Having Nothing To Do Poem by Shalom Freedman

Having nothing to do
Is one of the worst things in the world-
Feeling idle and useless
Makes the person sick inside-

Today I do not know what to do-
I just don’t-
Any idea I have seems false and wrong-
I remember how many times I have tried in the past
And gotten nowhere-
I cannot bring myself to try in the same way again,
And I know no other way-

I feel I am a nothing-
It does not matter what I have done before
I am a nothing who has nothing to do-
And I am ashamed,
and afraid it will always be this way.