#3 – The Fool Cage

I’ve talked often, and in many places, about Michael Whelan and his cover for “Destiny’s Road“.

Larry Niven’s book has had a lasting impact on me because any time I think of wistful, nostalgic science fiction, “Destiny’s Road” is the book that comes to mind. I can feel how I felt when I read it, almost taste the air from back then, each time I think about the book. I’ve started writing (and stopped) multiple stories where I try to capture that feeling.

But I would probably never have picked up the book at all if it hadn’t been for Michael Whelan’s cover 🙂 It was that beautiful cover, which I find somehow haunting, that drew me in. I loved those golden shades, the promise of a vast, and interesting, tale.

I also (vaguely) remember Michael’s notes at the end of the book talking about the cover — specifically about the fool cage. I don’t remember all of it, but I do know that he talked about the fool cage.

So it seems fitting that this poem be titled “The Fool Cage” 🙂

The Fool Cage
by Fahim Farook

Beneath the fool cage I sat,
By the world in front of me enrapt.
The ribbon road stretched ahead of me,
Beckoning me to strange lands I would see.

Upon my crag I sat,
The land spread ’round me like a mat.
Here a homestead, there a field,
‘mongst fluffy clouds alien birds wheeled.

The fool cage hovered over me,
With frilly lace on top fluttering gay and free.
A bird wanting to snack on the lace,
Would fall through and be trapped in place.

I gave no thought to the trapped bird,
The call of adventure was all that I heard.
I wanted to be away, journeying the world wide,
Not be stuck at home by my folks’ side.

Little did I know back then,
There were things beyond my ken.
I thought I was master of all I saw,
The world was mine to take or explore.

But with the wisdom of ages now I see,
That things aren’t as I thought them to be.
I thought I was free, roaming far and wide,
Through the lands, I would freely glide.

The world had been my fool cage,
The open road the lace which did me engage.
Now I find myself trapped,
Just like the birds when the fool cage snapped.