The sky opens up before your eye
And the rain comes pouring from the sky.
There's an old tree tap-tap-tapping on the door;
It's that tap-tap-tapping you abhor.
The faucet's drip-drip-dripping in a sink that's never clean
When the landlord's knock-knock-knocking on a door without a screen.
The television's crack-crack-crackling because the picture's never clear;
There's the Bible on a table that'll soon break down, you fear.
The mattress creak-creak-creaking as you shift in bed at night
Beside an old and grimy window never showing any light.
Day in, day out, you sit beside a fire with no heat;
Chopping wood with those old arms would be quite a feat.
The ceiling beams are wormy, and eaten up with time,
But they just may be strong enough to hold a woven line.
Loft it up and over, yes, and tie it good and tight.
You won't be sleeping in this hell-hole by tomorrow night.
A rickety chair beneath you may not hold up long enough
To slip the cord over your head and feel its texture, rough
Against your skin; tightening it slowly as you pray,
'Dear Lord, may you guide me to a new and better day.'
Incredibly sustained suspense in simple deceptively clever lines, a touch of genius and terribly entertaining, thus I will read this to my daughters with a smile before releasing the lines into their rhythmic rhyming.10+++
Hi Eliza! Good reminder that people are still trapped in poverty in this country still! (10) ! Thad
A well constructed POE-m, indeed...Nicely done ~FjR~
This could be a poem of fear yet your description of this cold lonely room has been so well described. Read your biography with interest.
Poverty a terrible state that sometimes forces you to end your life.Beautifully penned.thanks
Poverty and deplorable condition of living well depicted in the poem. A nice piece of poetry, well articulated and insightfully penned with conviction. Thanks for sharing. Please read my poem MANDELA - THE IMMORTAL ICON.
Loved the title but was disappointed in the poem. I guess it's mostly because I don't like poems about suicide. The poem itself has many good qualities, including perfect rhyming. Congratulations on having it selected as Poem of the Day.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
Incredible thematization of penury from where hedonism is cherished