was a boy in Birmingham
bought himself a gun
was a mom in Memphis
looking for her son
everybody’s raging
over what was done
went down to the swimmin’ hole
where we used to play
now it’s full of chemicals
sign says “keep away”
everybody’s’ wondering
how it got this way
everybody’s sorry
everybody’s sad
everybody wants to know
how things got this bad
fishermen in Grimsby
used to fish all day
now the boats are rottin’
fishing doesn’t pay
fisher folk are sorry all
the fish have gone away
everybody’s sorry
everybody’s sad
everybody wants to know
how things got this bad
we think we’re intelligent
but really we’re just mad
Martin Swords
Prompt Poems
“Sorry”
Feb 2008
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem