Stamps and coins earn scant respect;
train numbers even less;
antiques and paintings just reflect
the wealth that some possess.
Birds' eggs and butterflies demand
some knowledge of wildlife;
birdwatchers' lists of species scanned
need patience and some strife.
Most women though are quite content
with house and family,
collecting things to ornament
the home domestically.
And men collect their status toys -
computer, car and phone,
while mothers joke "Men will be boys."
admiring what they own.
Collecting things is harmless fun
and, if it gives you pleasur
no need to denigrate some-one
who that way fills his leisure.
But what of those who won't conform,
true overlanders free
from tyranny's accepted norm
oppressing you and me?
Hard drinking, smoking rockers, fierce
with tatoo on one shoulder
and banded biceps, faces pierced,
ignoring getting older.
It's not so much how high you fly
that differs you from me;
it's more I think you like to lie
of how things seem to be.
You too collect a sort of thing
despite your kicking traces
when in the bar you always fling
in names of foreign places.
You also lead a routine life
along a beaten track
without a mortgage, kids and wife
but camp to camp and back.
Eventually you'll settle down,
an owner not a guest,
and change your smile for a frown
collecting money like the rest.
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