Debtor's Gaol Poem by Robert Sheridan

Get tossed for failing to pay one's debts
You had to come up with the dough for
what you owed and your new situation
That was called terminal imprisonment.

Many tried to pay ye olde loan sharks
But at 100% interest compounded by
the day and being locked-up in chains
and in a cage, jobs were often scarce.

The debtor's were kept on separate
floors and in cells of different sizes
No heat and no AC, why there was
not even any running H2O (water) .

Throw in typhus and Gaol Fever, it
made for a very unpleasant scene
And with no Birdman from Alcatraz
There wasn't much to pass the time.

In short, it was a place of restraint
No visitors; no hacksaws in cakes
It was filthy and nauseous, and the
only way out was by your eulogy.

'2008'