Brimming
There was a lump in his throat
that could have bridged a moat,
his fixed eyes were brimming,
while the stranger was grinning.
His young mind was wracked
by those that came and attacked
just because he was new in town,
had his accent make them frown?
As he struggled up from the ground,
still swamped by their sneering sound,
from the taunting crowd that circled him,
just how could he escape that fearful din?
Only six years old and new to fear's drone,
he wished to be transported far from home,
back to the welcoming streets where he had been,
unaccustomed to fighting with such lads so mean.
Those harsh welcoming ways of the London boys,
brought him to realise life was about more than toys,
so he was set on a path to understand all that he could,
about why people did those things he thought no one should.
Fifty three years later he looks back and can see,
that moments like that shaped his life irrevocably,
his focus was not often on the lessons in school
for they didn't clarify the patterns of life as a rule....
©Rhumour
November 20th 2010
John Aikman
Mon 22nd Nov 2010 23:45
Fabulously evocative. I wonder how much better it could be if you dared to rhyme it less? There are some lovely metaphors in there...and the 'drone' of fear is..well, just a superb description.
Jxx