The Drummer Pauper

by

Clarius Ugwuoha

Drummer, drummer sitting by the road
Beneath that leafless tree
Your feet cracked several times through
As fired by hunger and taste
You beat the life out of your drum.

Here it once had been lonely
Haunted by owls and rats
Now, the crowd had thickened
Like bees upon a tree

Drummer pauper sweating by the road
Beneath that crowded tree
Your body caked with dust
As the crowd strained to hear the drum
Not reckoning with the person of the drum.

It was good music listening to the drum
To the bird-like voice of the drummer
Sitting by the road.
And the crowd hemmed in upon the drummer
Thickening by the hour

Drummer pauper lying by the road
Dead to drums and songs
Groaning
Under the weight of negligence

Your friends now watch you
From a distance
like you were a plague
Those who once danced to your drums
Now spittle at your sight!

NEXT?
Why don't you look at In The Quiet Of A Cemetery Morning...
by: Joe Fazio
from: Beverly Hills, CA, US

To visit all of Clarius Ugwuoha's poems, click HERE

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