An Unwanted Sojourn Poem by John Sensele

Hurtled headlong into the poverty pool
Where whips spun me into a horror hoop
From which daily I strive to eke out a living
Christianity dictates precedes forgiving

Cyclops and ropes who clamp down on the freedom
I earned at birth in the kinky kingdom
Where days and nights conflate
Ensuring deprivation rates and threats deflate

The ego and alter ego dribblers fear
Increase the confidence that dries away every tear
Brave enough to decorate my face
Betraying the stress in the forlorn trace

My facial expressions in vain strive to conceal
Upon discovering mountains of debt litter my father's will
Peeling off my family's sustenance
Given that fate cut off my finance maintenance

Thereby slaying prospects for upward mobility
I dreamed would spring from my siblings' versatility
Alas! Succour sauntered awkwardly far away
Into layers of darkness where I groped for a way

That didn't materialise
Given that greed and gluttony terrorize
Freedom I demand from the poverty
The greedy claim has ceased being a novelty.