A Ballad For The Miserable

• Ariana Bourke, Grade 9, William Ross State High School
• Poetry
• 2017

Excellence Award in the 'Write Here Write Now 2017' competition

Heart's contempt - a hatred, that spars on par with pain
Lost forever in the balance, those times never regained
A society, corrupt, with prejudiced view of wrong and right
Despite the laws and faiths, the world is not in black and white

Killed a man or two; of which my family, they had slain
Was thrown away in jail; onlookers' faces, wrought with disdain
While the man behind the massacre, whose name I never knew
Laughed at the me behind bars; the one whom nothing, could I do

The poor fellow sitting adjacent me, in correlating cell
Was too, victim of agony; of which in a many stories did he tell
We two men abided fine; fought tooth and nail, we did, by hand
Fell in love, defied society; though submission - their demand

Life was always cruel and proved to be so in every way
By inmates, ruthlessly murdered; my love, taken away
Although my life was constant agony, they never did away with me
At least a dead man is a free man; my love, now free eternally