JUNY - The place ahead (Brian Patten)

I was standing at a crossroads

When a man came to me and said,

“Can you tell me what it’s like

In the town up ahead?”

I asked him what it had been like

In the town through which he’d passed.

He said it had been a dreadful place.

I said, “You’ll find the next place like the last.”

As soon as he was gone from me

Another man came by;

He too asked if the place ahead

Was a good place in which to stay.

I asked him what it had been like

In the town through which he’d passed.

He said it had been wonderful.

I said, “You’ll find the next place like the last.”