Nov 11, 2007 16:46
The Cold Within
James Patrick Kinney
Six humans trapped by happenstance
In bleak and bitter cold,
Each one possessed a stick of wood
Or so the story's told
Their dying fire in need of logs
The first man held his back
For the faces around the fire
He noticed one was black
The next man looking across the way
Saw not one of his church
And couldn't bring himself to give
The fire his stick of birch.
The third one sat in tattered clothes
He gave his coat a hitch
Why should his log be put to use
To warm the idle rich?
The rich man sat back and thought
Of the wealth he had in store
And how to keep what he had earned
From the lazy, shiftless poor.
The black man's face bespoke revenge
As the fire passed from his sight.
For all he saw in his stick of wood
Was a chance to spite the white.
The last man of this forlorn group
Did nought except for gain
Giving only those who gave
Was how he played the game.
Their logs held tight in death's still hands
Was proof of human sin.
They didn't die from cold without
They died from the cold within