Famine Story

A poem

Image credit: The New York Public Library on Unsplash

You are the plot of land
that has been cared for diligently
from sunrise to sunset
without fail. You are the last
glimmer of hope in someone’s eyes
as they sign away all that they believe
to well-fed strangers speaking in foreign tongues.

You might as well lose your soul
sailing on a coffin ship
and try to keep from drowning
on foreign soil as you emerge
hung-over and penniless in the morning sun
because you had no money to pay the officer
who found you in this state.
You stumble on, pockets empty, as they always
have been, and so far from home.

When you’ve given up that much
you’d better not forget
it was all you ever had.