One day there was a man named William who had schitzophrenia and autism and
He lived with his parents John and flur and growing up William was being bullied in an unusual way like it looked as though they were taking the fun out of his life and William really wanted to put of his mistakes behind him and live safely with his mum and dad but as William went out people tried to rob him
Which made William upset saying these thugs stole my holiday money because I want to go on holidays but I can't pass these cowardly thugs but
As he got home his mum cooked a nice chicken stir fry
And William was thinking this is nice having him and his two parents enjoying a meal together and then William walked down to his room to watch FOXTEL to make him feel better because he wanted kids of his own but instead he had his mum and dad who were very nice to him and these thugs at the mall who yelled at him if he didn't give him any cash because William was saving for a holiday and he had no idea of where he wanted to go but he wanted to save money and as people asked him for cash and took offence when they didn't get any William said why don't people want me to go on a holiday and when he explained this to his mum and dad they said just learn to relax because I am sure
Nobody really thinks that but William was really upset and sometimes he would accidentally hit the people he loved because of what went on at the mall and William knew his parents loved him but you see he wanted to save money for a great holiday so he could have fun and meet some new people
But William didn't work unless it was volunteer work but he had the pension which gave him enough holiday money to really enjoy himself somewhere and have enough money for accomodation and souvenirs and food but it was taking a while to save the holiday money
And he thought he was being bullied out of enjoying the high life because with just the pension it is hard to live the high life and when someone robbed him William would say
Why do you want to steal my holiday money, don't you think I deserve a flaming holiday ya know get away from **** like you and then they reached into his back pocket and stole $10-00 and William said give me back my holiday money you filthy coward and then they got out a pocket knife and held it to Williams neck and said I am going to steal this money and the next money and every time we meet heee you will give me money and if that is your holiday money, well that is your problem isn't it and William said
I ain't going to give you money
Especially my holiday money
I want to go on a holiday and
William's parents were really upset and tried to say you must try and get him out of your life
Because if you want to go on holidays get away from ****
And william said I can't say no
Because he is tough and he will bash me up and i had fun at school, I want out of this tricky situation but watta we gonna do
And Williams parents both said we need to feed him and help him get away from **** like them even if it is hard to do that
And every time William saw these people he tried to hide because really being a school bully is one thing but stealing holiday money off a vonerable man is uncalled for and William became fitter and fitter as he was trying to get away from voices of his bullies and he yelled out stop trying to get my holiday money leave me alone
And his parents made sure they were always home when he got home and his dad retired early to make sure he was there for William and this was a way for William to rid his head from these horrible voices
He just wants to go on holidays

EDNA: Please sit down, William. How are you today?

WILLIAM: Fine thank you, Edna. How are you? I read that you were having trouble with your piles.

EDNA: Mind your own ******* business. I'm doing the interviewing here.

WILLIAM: Sorry, Edna.

EDNA: Right, now I hear you are a wife-swapper. How did that start?

WILLIAM: Well, Edna, after I had been married a few years, I got fed up with ******* the same **** and so I started wandering a bit. And my ******* wife found out and broke my leg with a sledge hammer.

EDNA: That must have hurt.

WILLIAM: Of course it ******* well hurt. Not only that, it made ******* impossible for months.

EDNA: [laughing sympathetically] And then?

WILLIAM: Well, once the leg mended, since I still fancied a bit of spare nookie, I suggested to my lady wife, we try some wife-swapping.

EDNA: How did she react to your mentioning swinging?

WILLIAM: Swinging? You mean life my wife's fat *******?

EDNA: I'll ignore that. Get on with the story for Christ's sake. You'll bore my readers' **** off.

WILLIAM: As I was saying, she was quite keen on it. In fact she said 'As long as the geezers involved have a bigger **** than yours, I'm up for it'.

EDNA: Yes, I heard your **** was small, William.

WILLIAM: Anyway, we joined the Maidstone Wife-Swappers Club the next week and have been swapping ever since.

EDNA: Ever since? How long ago was that, then?

WILLIAM: About five years ago, Edna. The MWSC meets once a month, there's usually quite a few couples there and we go most times, especially if we've heard there's some new members, if you get my meaning.

EDNA: Members? Members? That's a good one. You should be on the stand-up circuit with material like that, William.

[Edna and William laugh gaily]

EDNA: Tell me, do you swap with only one couple at these swingers parties? Or do you mingle, so to speak? Roughly many couples have you swapped with, then?

WILLIAM: As a result of our participation in at the Maidstone Wife-Swappers meetings, I have shagged 84 women and Eileen, my dear wife, has been ****** by 245 men.

EDNA: You can go now.

WILLIAM: Pardon me?

EDNA: *******.

*[Interview terminated at this point.]

"The next speech to be given
Is one we need to hear
I'd like to call on William
Who has overcome his fear
William, please come forward
And take your place with me
And children, listen closely
As we let dear William be...."
William then ventured forth
From the back where he sat
He was dressed in a long jacket
And a worn out stove top hat
Before he started talking
More instructions were delivered
"Don't laugh, or talk or clap people...."
While at the front William shivered...
The class went deadly quiet
And William went to speak
No one could quite hear him
His voice was soft and meek
"Four Thcore and Theven yearth ago
Our fatherth brought forth
Upon thith continent
A new nathion, conthieved in liberty.."
William finished speaking
The class just sat there dumb
No one knew this William
From where had this one come
Each year in school since JK
Willaim rarely said a word
And if he ever answered
No one really heard
But today...today he was a hero
Standing proud in his black hat
He had stunned them into silence
Knocked them dead just where they sat
He practiced with the teacher
Every afternoon at home
He worked on words in secret
When he was sitting all alone
The Gettysburg Address
Never, sounded quite as great
As when recited by young William
This young man in grade eight
He had broken his long silence
As the year came to an close
By reciting Old Abe Lincoln
In his black and borrowed clothes
He'd defeated all his demons
Showed his lisp just who was king
Now he ventured into high school
And the worst that it could bring
The bell went off, class was dismissed
The silence was now burst
The children stood to exit
And they let William leave class first

As it fell out on a long summer's day,
  Two lovers they sat on a hill;
They sat together that long summer's day,
  And could not talk their fill.

"I see no harm by you, Margarèt,
  And you see none by mee;
Before to-morrow at eight o' the clock
  A rich wedding you shall see."

Fair Margaret sat in her bower-windòw,
  Combing her yellow hair;
There she spyed sweet William and his bride,
  As they were a riding near.

Then down she layd her ivory combe,
  And braided her hair in twain:
She went alive out of her bower,
  But ne'er came alive in't again.

When day was gone, and night was come,
  And all men fast asleep,
Then came the spirit of Fair Marg'ret,
  And stood at William's feet.

"Are you awake, sweet William?" shee said,
  "Or, sweet William, are you asleep?
God give you joy of your gay bride-bed,
  And me of my winding sheet."

When day was come, and night was gone,
  And all men wak'd from sleep,
Sweet William to his lady sayd,
  "My dear, I have cause to weep.

"I dreamt a dream, my dear ladyè,
  Such dreames are never good:
I dreamt my bower was full of red 'wine,'
  And my bride-bed full of blood."

"Such dreams, such dreams, my honoured sir,
  They never do prove good;
To dream thy bower was full of red 'wine,'
  And thy bride-bed full of blood."

He called up his merry men all,
  By one, by two, and by three;
Saying, "I'll away to fair Marg'ret's bower,
  By the leave of my ladiè."

And when he came to fair Marg'ret's bower,
  He knocked at the ring;
And who so ready as her seven brethrèn
  To let sweet William in.

Then he turned up the covering-sheet;
  "Pray let me see the dead;
Methinks she looks all pale and wan.
  She hath lost her cherry red.

"I'll do more for thee, Margarèt,
  Than any of thy kin:
For I will kiss thy pale wan lips,
  Though a smile I cannot win."

With that bespake the seven brethrèn,
  Making most piteous mone,
"You may go kiss your jolly brown bride,
  And let our sister alone."

"If I do kiss my jolly brown bride,
  I do but what is right;
I ne'er made a vow to yonder poor corpse,
  By day, nor yet by night.

"Deal on, deal on, my merry men all,
  Deal on your cake and your wine:
For whatever is dealt at her funeral to-day,
  Shall be dealt to-morrow at mine."

Fair Margaret dyed to-day, to-day,
  Sweet William dyed the morrow:
Fair Margaret dyed for pure true love,
  Sweet William dyed for sorrow.

Margaret was buryed in the lower chancèl,
  And William in the higher:
Out of her brest there sprang a rose,
  And out of his a briar.

They grew till they grew unto the church top,
  And then they could grow no higher;
And there they tyed in a true lover's knot,
  Which made all the people admire.

Then came the clerk of the parish,
  As you the truth shall hear,
And by misfortune cut them down,
  Or they had now been there.

I knew William thru the best and worst of times
His life ran down like integers of prime
And so close to death did he fall
The Reaper’s fingers upon him scrawled

Messages in fine lines etched into his face
A strange expression that left no trace
Of his former disposition
His self-sublimed by this attrition

But William recovered
And around him something strange hovered
And the light in his eyes had a strange lumen
I feared William brought back something inhuman

For he had a fierceness that was not there before
A coldness that into his soul did bore
He was fearless beyond all comprehension
His eyes put the light of life in serious contention

So no man or beast would look upon him
And his countenance was dark and beyond grim
He glowed at night within a dim purple hue
He was terrible to look at in this view

For some reason William like to be with me
He said I looked different than others he could see
And his demeanor softened when I was near
And I could be with him then without fear

William used to like night walks
So the city streets at night we stalked
One night we came upon a bad man
Insignias and tattoos designated some clan

And he was beating this poor woman to death
And she was begging him on her last breath
So I told William to wait while I rushed to her aid
Unto her tormentor I tried to dissuade

I pulled him off of her with a mighty heave
He got up and said he’d **** me if I didn’t leave
I saw this flash of blinding purple light
William picked him up in flight

And held him by the neck pinned up against a building wall
And spoke to him in a litany of death in hollow tones that did call
To another place that summoned dark, shadowy phantoms
That he summoned by these unearthly anthems

The air became as cold as ice
Two dark shapes appeared in a trice
Semi-transparent and ethereal like some dark fog
Coiling and seething like some noxious smog

And I saw upon one a semblance of eyes
And inside them I saw the universe rotating alive
As I looked into this abyss to see
I felt it looking back at me

So William told the phantoms they could have this man
To show him their dark and shadowy land
The man was screaming and crying not to go
Forgotten that he had tried to **** a moment ago

The two phantoms held onto the man by both arms
Unable to break their unearthly charms
They ascended into an eerie red litten cloud
That swallowed them up in a shroud

Of red and silver fleece
And their fell upon us a feeling of peace
William said to me, “it’s like this every time”
Then William began to fade from view and sublime

He said to me, “I’ll be back tomorrow”
His voice was played in the key of sorrow
“For I have to reestablish the balance”
“For our universal imbalance”

“For someday you will see”
“What truly happened to me”
“There are things that want to come back through”
“From near-death to me and to you”

“Entities of good and things that are bad”
“Who pay no heed to visiting spirits forbad”
“To come back through within that host”
“And hover within like some old ghost”

“And to you David I see your blue Angel”
“He watches over you this Archangel”
“And you see things in a beautiful light”
“And all things natural and bright”

So I saw William the other day
And his countenance had changed from black to grey
And he seemed at peace I gathered from his parlance
Now that he had the universe back in balance

The dark entity within him had gone
No longer the dark messenger’s pawn
At times I feel the dark one’s pulling at me
And vanish again at the blue angel they see

So the riders are there waiting to accrue
Their spirit Dark or Bright I haven’t a clue
Which one you get depends upon you
Vengeance or wisdom decides their hue

And so dear reader I leave you with this
Spending your time staring into the abyss
With shameful intentions trying to see through
All the while the abyss is staring back at you

And unto you it may send something you really don’t want
An entity, sinister, and dark that haunts
You to the ends of time
In odd meter and chaotic rhyme

They are the Riders From the Other Side
Floating in a netherworld they glide
Desperately wanting back from whence they came
To try and finish their interruption in life’s game

Dave Proffitt
2/15/2014
11:42 pm