My Childhood Chilling Report Poem by John Sensele

Five hours on most mornings in a church
Seeking for shelter
From listless life that left me in the lurch
Which deprivation couldn't alter

Despite the fervent wish
In my mind
Entertained in a dish
From which enough meals I couldn't find

In the vicinity and safety of the kenaf sac
In which fitful sleep
My eyes stole from a pack
Of blues in plenty which deep

Within my darkness crept
Asking me in abandoned abodes
I slept and wept
Wondering why cranky cords

Scolded me and told me to hope for the best
Although school for a while I stopped
Cos on my back sat threadbare vest
As darkness and sadness hopped

During days, during nights
Until grandpa
Intervened to turn on lights
That bathed my future in a spa

Where a vista
Opened the path back to school
As my immediate younger sister
Determined my destiny to retool

Direction smiled
Providence came on stream
Test and homework in a line past disappointments filed
And alive returned the dream

That re-engineered my return
To life
Which in turn
Played aloud my future fife

Streamlining
Facilitating
Underlining
The importance in my life of providing

Direction
Support
Action
As the future on its own delivered my chequered childhood report.