Edith Speers: pity the never been poor

pity the never been poor

bathed in brightness and by brightness blinded,

cushioned by comfort, swaddled by wads of money,

memories of childhood bring a frown or smile

but never a grimace, never the taste of bile,

never a burst of laughter, it’s so funny,

now we’re out of it, when we’re reminded

of cardboard blocking holes in worn-out shoes,

wearing hand-me-downs and sharing beds,

drunken fights beyond the unlocked door,

poor but honest linoleum on the floor,

shadows everywhere of things unsaid,

and knowing you’ve got nothing left to lose.

pity those who’ve been buffered by security,

pity their tepid tales of joy and sorrow,

never to know the money’s all but spent

so might as well be broke as badly bent.

live for today because there’s no tomorrow,

just bareness, starkness, emptiness and purity.

baptised by darkness and by darkness blessed,

you fight your way toward a gleam of light,

grateful, glad, rejoicing in what you’ve won,

jealous of no one’s moment in the sun

and never afraid of entering the night,

that friend from childhood, place of dreams and rest.

pity the never been poor, those hapless sheep

sheltered by kindly chance from ever knowing

how hardship breeds like cancer in the soul,

a putrid poison that will take its toll

if envy unappeased just keeps on growing,

the chancres of resentment hidden deep.

blighted by darkness and by darkness fed,

baptised by darkness and by darkness blessed,

not bathed in brightness nor by brightness blinded,

pity the never been poor who are never reminded

that shadows are wealth that must not be confessed

and darkness the truths we’d rather leave unsaid

Edith Speers