Sherman Peebody

Heavy is this shroud of guilt...
Worn all my life.
Fringed in promise unfulfilled,
Of patchwork knit contrite...
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Of late I have not been around,
Stopped receiving mail.
Canceled all appearances,
Planned no moving sale.
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Mom! I want to go with you!
Please! Don't leave me here!
At home alone with brothers grim,
They stab me with their jeer...
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Mom had dropped us in a rush,
We'd risen late from bed.
Another day in Catholic school,
That place of fear and dread.
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Emotion is a telephone,
That rings incessantly.
Emotion is a person who,
Calls to speak with me.
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I am immersed in life accursed,
As though a rhyme without a verse.

I am a ship in torrent gale,
...

There was a time not long ago,
I was everything to everyone.
But guilt and shame have taken toll,
I long to be nothing to no one.
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Been too long a burden,
On my family.
Lost my sense of purpose,
Got no place to be.
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"Children laugh and carry on,
As children often do.
But I rule with iron fist,
And tolerate no fool."
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