A Broken Toy Poem by Paula Glynn

I am a broken toy,
Joy of the toy, so they say,
My emotions of pain,
Confusion and losing,
The game that is life,
The game that is my life,
My emotions crushed,
Like an unwanted spider,
That hides in the corner.

Their laughter,
My pain,
For I did try to gain,
Happiness - and -
As greedy as this is:
Money,

Yet I am still,
Branded the fool,
I still cry at night,
I still beg and plead,
Cry, beg and bleed,
My pain their gain,

Because I am a broken toy,
I feel no happiness,
No love or joy,
Yet there is an inkling
Of something called pride,
There is an inner strength,
Where I yearn to
Stand up and fight
Stand up and replace
The brutal night
With love and understanding,

Showing these people,
They are wrong,
That I do have a place,
In society, I do belong,
As I sing the Ship of Fools song,
For I had felt fear,
I had been wrong,
In showing my pain,
I had been wrong in being their fool,

For I had been a toy,
A broken toy,
To throw me around,
Like a child with a toy,
Like a child who'd gotten,
All the candy,
My money a temptation,
My money the motive,
For their violence,
Their criminal activities,
I no longer part of,

For they are crooks,
They tried to destroy my books,
My imagination, my pride,
My happiness, my health,
Everything that gave me wealth,

For they desire my money,
They desire the kill,
For with the written word,
I had skill,
Yet faced the kill,
Faced myself when I agreed with them
But I did not want to agree
And to the devil
I did plead
Yet he made me bleed and bleed,

Their glory in destroying me,
Their glory is destroying any story,
Conceived and believed by me
But now I hold the key,
Now I leave that stormy sea,
The Ship of Fools,
No longer haunting me,

For this broken toy
Does celebrate
This broken toy
To remember the pain
And know it over
Never to lose again
My personal power regained
My wealth regained
And now I will never lose again
Friends, friends,
Enemies, enemies:
But never an enemy to myself.