The Escape Poem by Jan Oskar Hansen

The Sad Escape.

I sat by the table, near the window, reading. A woman and her man sat
on a filthy sofa, eating smoked sardines off an old newspaper.
This room stank of unwashed bodies and lack of hygiene. Dry washing
that should have been ironed weeks ago occupied a chair.
The pair rolled their own cigarettes and had nicotine stained fingers.
It was raining heavily I could not go out and felt a violent despair, like
a trapped animal that attacks its rescuers.“Use fork and knife” I snapped.
They both giggled. Rain had stopped I walked out, light shone out of
miserable curtains…and I knew. I must leave now. Get out! It was too easy
sink into apathy, and ignorance. Yet, I loved them, they were my flesh
and blood, good people who had never been encouraged to seek anything
better. But I must leave… and I left never to return.