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Poems - The Willing Dead

The Willing Dead

by MissCJMonroe

A pathetic lament screams up at me from the filth of the sidewalks.
"Help me" it groans, "please, help me."

Ordinarily, my street smarts direct me to play ignorant
To continue on by
As though the cries had become lost
Amongst the buzz of the street
As though they didn't pierce
This bleeding heart

But this cry, so thickly poisoned with pain and desperation
Smells blood and hastily stings
Pumping venomous sympathy
Through the veins of a fresh victim

I peer down from my cloud
To behold the embodiment
Of such an agonizing wail

A putrid pile of flesh and bones
Trembles at my feet
Swathed in soiled tatters
Skin blackened with grime

The pungency of urine and human putresence
Pollutes the air unbreathably
and I cannot hide my abbhorence

It peers up at me with lifeless eyes and pleads again
Administering little more than a barbaric grunt
For the grip of addicition and self demise
has slowly strangled him for years

I recognize him as a daily fixture along my walk home
A career begger
Scroungin' for quarters
With a sign that reads "Need Change for Food"

Perhaps food is his first intention
But it is the contents of a bottle
Or the billows of a pipe
That pour down his throat
In exchange for those quarte

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Tags: Altruism, homelessness, Addiction, sympathy

"The Willing Dead" | Login/Create an Account | 4

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Re: The Willing Dead (Score: 1 )
by Dreaming-Demon on Monday, November 02, 2009 (18:46:59)

This is excellent...a fave

| Parent

Re: The Willing Dead (Score: 1 )
by MissCJMonroe on Monday, November 02, 2009 (21:19:50)

| Parent

Re: The Willing Dead (Score: 1 )
by Ghost.Of.a.Poet on Tuesday, November 03, 2009 (17:30:49)

i really like this piece its very well written..nice job!

| Parent

Re: The Willing Dead (Score: 1 )
by JPerry1980 on Thursday, November 12, 2009 (22:56:37)

I don't think he's using that pipe for Cherry Blend Pipe Tobacco like my grandpa did either. His loss too, it's a wonderful blend. This is very well expressed, Carleigh, you capture the emotions (raw and real, not holding back here) very well. We've all been your character witnessing this scene entirely too often. Do you "s'pare some change" in hopes that he/she actually tells the truth, or do you leave knowing that the "nourishment" they crave is consumed through the vein? It's a terrible situation. All too real, all too seen within a day-to-day basis. It's one of the reasons I took a break after college instead of going straight into graduate school, "I can sit around this ivory tower mentally masturbating all day about God and faith, or I can act upon my knowledge". You express this very well. -- j.

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Added on: 02-Nov-2009 | Hits: 458 |

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