He knew what he meant, but he never could say.
When he told everybody, they all turned away.
He left without touching the hem of the crowd;
He was maybe too stupid or even too proud.
But then he came and he whispered to me -
A serious, curious nonentity.
I listened to him, and as he began
I realised that here was a serious man.
He quoted from Nietzsche, he quoted from Jung;
He read from the thoughts of Mao Tse Tung.
But all the time, I knew him to be
A serious, curious nonentity.
He talked of his life and of people he'd known.
He told of the things his experience had shown.
He stuck to my side like a Siamese twin;
He often grew tired, but he never gave in –
Not that anybody could see -
The serious, curious nonentity.
It's a long time ago, but I'll never forget
The glow in the light of his last cigarette;
The laughter that followed the end of the joke;
It seemed to get lost in the circular smoke
Ring he blew so effortlessly -
The serious, curious nonentity.