Gregor Samsa’s Song Poem by Charlie F. Kane

What has happened to me?
It was no dream.
But I can’t move from my back,
I itch all over,
And I can not see my legs,
I see strange things
Of which I know not what
To make of them!
What has happened to me?

Family, family,
Will you not look after me?
Family, family,
Can you not see it is still me?
Family, family,
Can you not understand me?
Family, family,
Will you not hear me?

Sister,
You bring me my food,
But I can not bear for you to see me.
But, Sister, how you have changed.
You are still my sister to me,
But am I a brother to you?
Sister, who once idolized me,
Will you bring me milk no more?

I try to talk,
But they can’t understand,
I speak and they cannot hear,
But they speak and I can understand.
What is this barrier that has come between us?
What is this wall that has grown among us?
My thoughts are only my thoughts,
And that is what they will stay.
My voice speaks to them to be a screech,
Not the poetry that flows through my mind.

Father,
I once looked after you,
I once loved you,
Father,
I once saw you as my father.
But now I reject you.
I shun you away.
You see me as nothing more than what I am,
Memories of the past forgotten,
Father I hate you.

Crawl the walls.
Stick to my room.
Why go outside to only get hurt?
They speak as if I have departed,
Yet I believe I am still here,
Although they cannot understand.

Mother,
You who looked after me,
Gave life to me,
It is only you who can see my pain.
It is only you who sees beyond the mask.
But you cannot bear to see my pain,
And you rely on appearance to others,
If anyone asked then everything is fine,
Although the walls crumble around you.
Mother, have you betrayed me?

I want sledgehammer
To demolish the walls between us.
I want a pillow to smother myself.
I want to bring this show to an end.
I can feel the life draining away,
Day by day,
I look at the desert waste of this city,
And everything before me becomes grey.

©Charlie F. Kane

18/03/07