Saturday, 7 August 2010

Choose life

This one took me a week to write. I tried a different style and chose a subject which I vehemently loathe. I'm sure I don't need to say I'm wholly opposed to any sort of crime. But I am, and I will.

Choose life

The candyfloss kid,
chews gristle; grinds bone.
the Noughties, a decade marked
out as his own,
he knows-not of a place he
can safely call home,
yet this child just
turned out a light.

Talented tearaway – as
with trains on a track –
from one simple action,
there’s no going back;
a harrowing, unprovoked
vicious attack. This
baby, he carried a knife.

To the fear collector, he,
in tears, paid his dues,
though family and friends –
they paid them too, when
his victim expired, so
did his youth. The decision
stays with him; for life.

A sorrowful tale
of years behind bars; a
sickening cycle,
such indelible scars.
When he chose the steel,
he broke his mothers heart;
don’t make this mistake:
think twice.

Think twice for
the suffering you’d cause your
‘foes’; lives that will change because
of ‘cross-words’, we’re all
born to live and breathe in this
world, the answer: no violence;
choose life.

(c) Copyright Jane Edwards 2010

4 comments:

Donkey said...

This is excellent definatley one of my favorites of yours even though he subject matter is a bit like a busmans holiday for me lol.

Donkey said...

hey following inspiration from ur work I've had a go at a poem,its not great but ok for a first attempt its on my blog if u want to c it

joaquin carvel said...

i like this a lot - smart sentiment and crafty wordplay wrapped in rhyme. i wish there didn't have to be poems like this but there does, and you nailed it.

kerry said...

Really,reaaly like this one - added to my faves ;)