Banqueters

TWO POEMS

BANQUETERS

If you have known hunger

That rends and slays,

Gnawing your nights,

Darking your days;

If you have looked

On four gaunt walls,

And envied the fly

That battens and crawls;

If you have grubbed

In the alleys for bread,

And fought for a crumb,

And wished you were dead;

If you have slunk

By the river's brim,

And wondered if bones

Would sink or swim;

Then you're my brothers,

The meanest and least-

With curbstone for table

And heartache for feast.

Let's meet where the river

Runs greasy and gray,

And see if we join it

Or see if we stay.

Our last cent will tell it-

We'll each have a spin;

Tails is a loser,

And heads is a win!

Heads for the river,

And tails back to town-

Each going his way,

But all going down!

Structure

34 lines · 6 stanzas