My Heart Is Heavy [rev.] Poem by Margaret Alice Second

A lovely lunch break while wandering
about resembling an ambulant chintz
curtain - found a pullover and scarf to
hide the fashion fiasco, also a perfect
pink rose resembling a magic wand

Then all joy was lost when I translated
the complaint of a sad mother fleeced
by the same miscreants who had slain
her son, the depressing news deflates
any sense of sparkling joie de vivre

Leaving readers speechless; it's clear
in retrospect that every step she took
in compliance with their very irrational
requests was suspect, sending money
on demand to allay hunger - and yet

She never spoke to her son: why did
she comply without assurance her son
was still alive; why is it some people
insist on being soft targets; my heart
is grown heavy on her behalf…