The rays of merciless summer sun
Pierce blind drawn over an open window.
Shreds of wallpaper hang like down-drawn
Accusing fingers on tenement walls.
...
How dear to my heart are the memories of yesteryear.
Those gone now still live as if they were near.
The house in the valley in that small town.
Stands yet, its white turned gray and still down
...
Slum Sorrow
The rays of merciless summer sun
Pierce blind drawn over an open window.
Shreds of wallpaper hang like down-drawn
Accusing fingers on tenement walls.
Shrill screams from ragged children.
Dodging traffic for thrown ball,
Fill the torpid air with urgent energy.
In the hot gloom of a room a woman sits
Heavy with misery.
Slow tears mingle with sour sweat
Over slack jawed, empty-eyed face.
Amid disordered rumple of corner bed lies,
Sodden in stench of drink, a man
Who clutches a cudgel used in drunken rage
Of the shrinking acceptance on the body
Of the woman with slum's tolerance
Of sorrow, brutal and frequent.