Sunday, August 19, 2007

Ambiguous Endings

Butch and Sundance robbed a bank
In some small peasant town,
But then they fell into a trap
And nearly got shot down.
They dodged and swerved and dived behind
A peasant’s portico,
Surrounded by a hundred men
[Though this they didn’t know.]
They decided they would make a break
With all the loot they’d plundered,
But, as they fell into the sun,
A hundred gunshots thundered.

But then the credits start to roll.
You never see them shot.
You never know if they escaped
Those hundred men or not.
Perhaps those hundred soldiers
Were all in a parlous state,
Hungover from the night before,
Unable to shoot straight.

Louise and Thelma reached the end,
They’d pulled out all the stops.
Ahead, the great Grand Canyon.
Behind them, all the cops.
Louise then put the car in gear
And headed for the drop.
Behind, the good detective
Tried in vain to make them stop.
But, as they fly across the void
To meet their Judgement Day,
The picture freezes in mid-frame
And music starts to play.

What if a sudden gust of wind
Had blown them right across?
Or if they’d landed safely on
Some very bouncy moss?
Directors out in Hollywood
Should finish films with care.
They always seem to leave the viewer
Hanging in mid air.

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