Rusty Broadspear (no login) from IP address 172.190.143.187
BOY IN A BOX
Five in the morning, I lay curled in my box
At the side of some road somewhere.
I heard nature yawning and scratching its derriere,
The first of many pollution peddlers zipped by.
I like the mornings,
The Sun felt hot on my box.
*I was sleepy, so I pulled off the road.
Rubbing my eyes, up ahead was a box,
A boy, about mid teens, crawled out.
Camouflage coat, worn blue jeans,
Tanned face topped with yellow hair.
“What’s this kid doing there?”*
I took off my coat and folded my box
And crossed the road to a car that had stopped.
The driver in his forties with shirt and tie
Looked like he’d been rubbing his eyes.
“I want a lift to wherever you’re going.”
He let me in and only then did I chill.
*His coat and box on the back seat
I looked down at sandals on his feet.
I was about to turn the key
When it attacked me tight across the chest
Pains down my right,
I silently screamed as I lost the fight.*
I saw the sweat popping through his furrowed brow
And knew the time was now.
I reached for his hand and
Quietly said, “You must go home”
“You will never have this pain again.”
I left him slumped against his side window.
*I was glad I had stopped, I awoke refreshed.
As I pulled out I saw a hitchhiker
Climb in a 4 x 4 and join a young family.
It brought back the weirdest dream.
A dream I could never tell
Because as Bishop of this Parish
It scares me to Hell.*
I don’t like evenings, the closing page of a day,
But then job is done - who am I to say?
This message has been edited by WondersmithWest from IP address 205.206.129.48 on Oct 28, 2003 4:30 PM
Rusty, I tried three different times to get this centered and with the italic verses in italics, but it won't take both commands in any form I can think of! Too bad - I had a preview of it once with both centering and italics, but it wouldn't keep it that way because of 'unmatched or badly nested html tags.'
A brilliant and thought-provoking piece of work, whether the right stanzas are in italics or not. I think the * gives us an idea that they are the thoughts of a second party, so maybe it doesn't matter too awfully much...