image from anguishedrepose.com
There are times aplenty when I was in doubt
Hardly a penny to my name nor food in my mouth
Nowhere to turn and no-one to ask
Help and understanding seemed long past
There were no tears left to fall
They had long since soaked into the soil
With nary a person to see nor care
Is it any wonder I now dare
To say the things I need to say
Whatever happens come what may
I no longer fear the heavy hand
Not the baton nor manacle laid on like a band
There is nothing left inside to hurt
All feeling left buried in the dirt
Like yesterday’s news or an old shirt
No-one to call me a late night flirt.
I walk the city streets alone
A shadow passing through a lighted cone
Never seen nor heard
Like yonder lovely sweet bird
The past is long since gone
Never knowing just what went wrong
Only knowing the stories and endless lies
Gathered over the corpse like a mountain of flies
Drawing every morsel from my body
Left to rot like a forgotten toddy
No more use since I’ve been bled dry
Been long gone by and by
Desiccated and gone
The only thing left an old rubber thong
Hard to see where I used to be
There’s a shadow there near yonder tree
Wearing a uniform, laughing and carefree
Who is that person standing there
So proud and tall
Not likely to fall
Only the person I used to be
Before I grew up and lost my carefree
Hollow eyed and hopeless
Stolen before its time
Like a counterfeit chime
All out of lime.
© Susan Jamieson 2014
Owls and Orchids 