A poem by: Ben Dunk. Christmas 1976.

FATE

I cry, I cry; I cry!

When does the pounding stop?

When does the impending final fry

Drain the very last drop

Of tears from the pathetic body

Only when the finite fate

Decides the loser shall have been

Sufficiently destroyed

And not one moment before

Is the slashing cane allowed to vacate.

The dastards persistence must be

Prolonged the full term

No human can reverse

The path of rancour and suffering

No charity falls into place

And no mercy leaves the font

One must almost die in squalor of face

And dig in dung before

The gloating old friends of former want

Who never give when the boots change feet

The needs quicken in the former giver

And they look away sharply from the starving stare

Oh disastrous and raw fate

Oh ungrateful callow man

Where is thy fellow rate

Friendly service to a down-the-pan

Always nothing

Ends in nothing

Always something

Ends in nothing

Promises and hope

Are both maligned

Give them no rope

They’re not assigned.