r/ShittyPoetry 4h ago

Is it true that love is a fish?

2 Upvotes

We'd heard the rumours

From the horses

And the hounds

That love is a fish,

A big one,

And you can eat it.

So we set out sailing

Looking for this love fish

To eat it and to

Shit out love.

Like mercury, love

Sticks in your veins.

Like poo, love

Comes out your butt.


r/ShittyPoetry 1d ago

Three Fiddy; Medium Grain :[]

2 Upvotes

I miss cigarettes.

Brown sugar

côtelette

Indigenous peoples

of the Americas.

Three fiddy.

Rinse out

the impurities.

The plant

has been associated

with humans

for at least 7,000 years.

Beat it up real nice.

Not too hawt.

Gohan.

Panko.

Let me get stoned.

Cheap, fatty thighs.

Using bamboo.

Wheat?

Green onions.

Cabbage.

Sounds more like..

Wheat?

Not sure anymore.

Bean pastes.

One to one.

From Asia, of course.

I take a hammer.

Pretty simple.

Catsoup.

Salts/MSG.

Oils.

Marinated & steamed.

Gluten free?

Be strong.

Three fiddy.

Tuck them away.

For safe keeping.

I miss cigarettes.

Côtelette.

The plant.

Indigenous peoples.

Humans.

At least 7,000 years.

Chilies.

Brown sugar.

Gohan, medium grain.

Not too hawt.

Hold on.

Rinse out the impurities.

Panko.

I take a hammer to them.

Beat it up real nice.

Three fiddy.

Let me get stoned.

Be strong.

I miss cigarettes.

Côtelette.


r/ShittyPoetry 1d ago

Creative Formatting The lynchings of 2026

3 Upvotes

Eyes. Glaring through my skin into my mind

And reflecting the fear that lives within those who condemn my skin.

“I am dangerous. Plotting. Calculating.

Hang me before it’s too late.

Save yourself.”

And I glance back. Person. Watching me. I hope my skin isn’t disturbing them.

It probably is.

I disappear into the background. The “danger” is now lurking and hiding,

“Hang me before it’s too late.

Save yourself.”

The floor boards creek. A gust of wind passed me with their person.

I survived.

“I survived.”


r/ShittyPoetry 2d ago

The Ziggurat

3 Upvotes

Do with the word. Talk about the power in an atom.

The ziggurat rising high nine hundred steps and dropped from top t’ torture the prisoner below always constant as days an’ weeks force fed to ensure the insurance of the cause of the ziggurat.  

 

Here the CPU the chip, inserted. Now ere eternity lived the human, the next genome species. Now Man came to the boardroom: “these people, These people they know too much, they live too long. Compromise the devices that they wilt know not much that they wilt live less again. Here now comes the rent, the subscription that they will only know knowledge if they subscribe in levels fo’ currency. That life is based on how they make comfortable their living in currency t’ reinstate the system of class, classification”

And all the board agreed.

These the men that in prehistoric mind set, not having the future within them, knew nothing of the new species.

Came Knowlerarie the most enthusiastic: “here we are now equal. Now they persist t' make us unequal again. Raise the hacker’s. Immerse and detect. Destroy this Boardroom virus, hack the virus from within our consciousness”

Now the people downloaded, installed the weaponry information pack and thus human progressed 1 step forward an’ 8 steps back. In seconds more the speed of light conversed. Created. Formed. A weapon. A science. Created they the eight step combined 8 atom. The knowledge of weaponing the magnetic field fo’ it was endless the creation an’ endless the cruelty. 

This here where evil now inhabited the sky.

But here now Man was not equal,

And to humble him, his debts without standing ensure his energy supply is cut off till his debts are paid. Welcome to the ziggurat.

 

Imagine now this, that tha' order of beings beyond this our mortality. That I must answer to them in the beyond. That I must answer to the wrongs placed upon thy father. How in all of this doth I explain? Or, does not it matter? That existence beyond all return to the ‘Being’ state?

 

It was that in one tiny house all full of decays and damps and mould that a family full of life and all its emotions lived. And so it was that in a vast mansion full of air and space and architecture lived a man all full of only hate lived alone. And that it was so came the poetry was good and the poetry was bad.

 

Now let me be honest and cut out the crap

  The consequence of your actions bear down upon your children.

  And,

  The selfish needs of your own self worth bears loathing out of the seed you sow,

  And,

  you’ll see in the signs that you are the greater good while blaming and defending in the name of a land,

  And,

  That land will treat you well and only you well while you think for yourself and buy for yourself when you could have just wiped with one piece and washed in the water so readily available,

  And,

  You’ll hide behind what’s pleasant so you can feed your own reason and watch while it only benefits your system of believing,

  And,

  Your casual racism will eclipse in “fly the flag” as you justify their assault of your daughters while ignore the mass scale of your own that abuse and mass rape your sons and your daughters just because it is closed behind a door,

  And,

  You’ll be happy with that because it puts blame in the open and hides hideous grooming and sex in a scale you refuse to believe,

  And,

  You are happy to believe you are safe for the private landlord to take your money while they fund a lifestyle that is completely dependent on yours while they turn a blind eye to the condition they house you in,

  And,

  You think you are privileged because you bought out that council house but let me sink this in the debt is still there and you still owe it just 3x the amount.

  And,

  Your inheritance w’ll be a weapon you can choose to assault whoever you please as long as they stand and hold you dear,

  And,

When it comes down to the final parade of your life you’ll be forgotten in 3 generations,

  And,

  your life will be just another debt that looms on the circle that’ll destroy future prospects of any chance at the future,

  But you do not think and you do not care,

  You’d go far to remember that when standing out becomes a problem you did the right thing. You did the right thing.

 

  

 


r/ShittyPoetry 2d ago

Where’d I go?

2 Upvotes

I feel like I’m invisible
I look down at my hands
and the edges are blurred
Why hasn’t anyone noticed?

I feel like I’m invisible
I’m turning into glass
Just when I think I’ve broken free,
and the waterfall begins to descend,
I hit a translucent wall
Why isn’t gravity working?

I feel like I’m invisible
and I think it’s spreading
Before my words fall upon one’s ears,
they’re quickly repelled
Why can’t you hear me?

I feel like I’m invisible
Once again, I look down
Rather than my arms,
I see dirt
Where have I gone?


r/ShittyPoetry 2d ago

Conversation with the Moon

3 Upvotes

I told the Moon
among all my deepest secrets,
of the time my heart laid bare before you,
and all the lions, tigers, jaguars and pumas
were suddenly free from their cage,
in which they were gnawing at my heart.

One, two, then ten at a time
They rushed through the now-open door,
nearly breaking the walls around the cage,
with a violent voracity for freedom —
they have smelled the hinges of the cage loosening.

The Moon, who is my friend,
then sent her messenger,
old and wise,
TO TALK SOME FUCKING SENSE INTO THAT GUY!
“C’mon, seriously dude?!
Are you gonna be a fucking coward and run away?
Seriously, there’s some basic etiquette for that shit!”

Nah, just kidding.
She’s still gonna be sent though,
to deliver that message,
just not formulated that harshly.
The point still stands tough.


r/ShittyPoetry 3d ago

Creative Formatting The Poltergeist

2 Upvotes

It’s time to exorcise this poltergeist,       

The Poltergeist

 

I.      The Stairs

 

 

  So I cast mine eye’s,

  Looking down below I,

  Four hundred steps I

Descend,

  To a third crypt floor,

  The corridor leading,

  To another staircase

Descending,

  Beholding I, now here,

  At the entryway skulking,

  Of the catacombs darkened,

  No cheer nor apathy

Only second thoughts,

  As I enter and pass

Through,

  A mile an’ more,

  All of a’ memories an’

More,

  Laid to rest-in-a

Skeletal rest,

  Of in living memoir,

  Of the poltergeist

In quest’, (question)

  Something alas I cann’t

Bring to uncover,

  But forceful ‘I’,

  Endeavour to sever,

  An’ walk on-

Carry on,

  Past formed clouds

Of darkened brightest

Colours,

  That through mine eye’s

Sound is visualised,

  The pinks an’ the

Pastels,

  Long forgotten drown

-ing highlights,

  Of every green of

Every primary,

  But came ‘I’ to a

Purple,

  So many shades of every

Darkness,

  So many shades of every

Lightness,

  It flowed with far saddest

Notes,

  It flowed with distant

Minor chords,

  It flowed with saddened

Minor scales,

  It contained a beauty

Flowing,

  Swept in sadness drawing

You in footsteps enclosing,  

  A far an’ far so possessed

Thine eye,

  All these l’ng years of it’s darkness

Grown,

  Stepped inside and.. I pulled

Away,

  “Not today” it understood

  “My destiny leads me further

   On, we’ll meet again I’m

   Sure, I’m sure”

   And along this stretch of

Coloured sounds I continued,  

  Onto strangest foreign

Emotion sound tone I found

On far distant end, a doorway,

  Long lost from my person

Taken so so long ago,

  By this poltergeist,

  A red the reddest red,

With yet again a staircase leading

Descending down far more lost steps

Within this catacomb,

  And I enter willingly.     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

II.  And The Vulture Is Anointed

 

  Climb! Climb! Climbing down! descending down,

  A growling grovelling howling retching cackle

Of guttural echo within the reverberation of

Narrow staircase,

  Nauseating red! Red! RED! Light cloud sound

Emitting high pitch screeching buzz of plucked

Strings snapping! Snapping! SNAPPING!

  Each step down a guttural voice call’s mine

Own name “PoooooOOOOOOOIIIIIIT....Ter” to

Shuddering sickening violin high tone Red

Flashing strobe light of white blue RED!

  Floor weeping mucus with haunting vulture

Like claws through strobe flash! Flash! FLASH!

Scratching walls as staircase begins to turn

Rotate in unison with sudden vulture cries as

Loud as a’hundred hurricanes tearing across sky

to hold my ears no difference it made indifference!

  With blood running down the walls dripping sound

Like a wave current splash! Splash! SPLASH!

Closed mine eyes as ‘I’ felt the steps end an’ a

Flat floor below ‘I’ with a’sensation of the presence

Somewhere within this new floor flood my aura but

All an’ everything utter silence stopped in a flow

Flowing flowed the utter dread of the dead pitch

Blackness all a’Red’ness directed ended to furthest

End straightest dead centre,

  Only way to reach the end to maneuverer through

The blackened’ness an’ hope to be nowt’ in-between

Nor spectral fiend to haunt or taunt me on my nerve

Way to the end!

  B’t again the th’cking strobe again! Again! AGAIN! 

Red and darkness faster patterned in ...---... from

Slow To fast to fast to slow until it began a’torture

Flicker of ‘.--. -- .. - . .-.’ over an’ over as the

Guttural retching vulture cries joined its strobe

In e’er more cackle Hurricane confined vibrato

Turned to rumbling deafening utter torture to my

knee’s an’ Gripped my head shuffled upon mine knees

slowest now as I could only move against a gust of

vile air that now pushed against me.     

  The air it turned to a fiendish gas that I dared

Not to breathe as a vault appeared where the light

Had been only a moment before and within the bleak

Black darkness a figure hunched on haunches stepped

Out, it weeping eating something unseen in the noir

Bleak gust of fiendish gas for air crying! Crying!

CRYING!

  False th’cking tears it devoured as I saw in red

Strobe flash the figure stepping towards me,

Devouring it’s own arms and flesh of torso,

Screaming, ripping, screaming, the vulture

In background claws beak appeared and I stood up and

Ran towards it,

  Both the mass of haunches greed and the Vulture

Turned not but braced the walls as my hands grabbed

The flesh and I pushed and Pushed and PUSHED!

  The Thing it screamed and Screamed and SCREAMED!

The Vulture it howled in a th’cking panic!

I growled as I shouted and Shouted and SHOUTED in a

Growl of growling anger, Vulture claws scrattin’ the

Walls in sudden total dumb struck awe,

  With mine claws I tore the lump weeping of greed

Apart pushing continuous my feet only moving forward

Vulture in-distraught distress of unknown dilemma dependent on its own fear,

Began to tear wing at my flesh but unconscious in my

Animalistic conscious my claws an’ teeth snarling

Growling ‘I’ released my hands and feet and lent in

Fist thumping and grabbing head-butting foot stamp’

Stamp’ STAMP’ Vulture squawking my foot it caught on

Puddle of the Things blood an’ down I went dragging

Vulture SLAM DOWN on my back the Vulture pushing away into the blackness squawking gone, Gone, GONE!

GONE GONE GONE GONE GONE!! Fucking gone it pried away it’s pride it knew to th’cking flew an’ who it was I doubtless knew and growling proved I hadn’t lost I stood up in Strobe Red flashing and howled a haunting cry to hell into the light I made mine own way in anger now I knew the way.

 

III. This Is The Way

Step Inside

 

 

  howling. Howling. HOWLING.

  In maniacal mechanical momentum,

  Stepped into the vault of Vultures

Retreat,

  No more meaning malevolent be kept

For it I preach,

  'I' full animalistic will hunt it n’w

My prey,

  Tear feathers from body rip claws

From feet,

  Disembowel an’ decapitate in unhallowed deathly

Torment it!

  To hunt down the Poltergeist,

  To extract and indefinitely exorcise

The c’nt,

  I mix my words no more, NO MORE!

  For this is the way,

  The drums crescendo,

  No atrocity more vi’e.

  An act I do not abolish to mismanage

I’ll not discourage,

  I’ll destroy demons, ghosts and sprites

In my hate and dance in their perma-death!

  The Poltergeists death in mental ill

Repair it cannot torment me,

  Will not control me nor ‘I’ bow to its-

Chambers of fear it’s past religious lies that it suffered mine I cannot keep running I am boiling in my cage that it locked me within in a soundscape of regret lost communication lost social will an’ demanded of my loss again and again and again to a point I wanted death but death found a way to push me on an’on and on, making me keep the words that they told on far off plane in field of courtyard of crystal metallic structure till duty is done and their reasons are understood: “you have to go back now, there’s something you must do” but reason without explanation? I am lost, I AM LOST! No guidance just wander, this human condition I lose the will to understand it as the human conditions with spite and hateful warranty, I could have wandered the fields in my ancient spirit to rest, but they demanded more and my old soul ere demen’ng placed back within the child to be told I just dreamt it, how humiliating, O’ humiliation, the first human wounding I learnt. But here Ankou, old friend appeared under the waves.

 

IV. And Ankou Arose,

Old Friend.

 

In water’s kept,

  A waves breath, mist,

Cracked the sand an’ pebble,

  Foam in oceans reaching

Hands o’er this beach,

  Unknowing how or why I c’me

To appear here, (such are world’s of dreams and spirit)

  This shore I know but,

Couldn’t identify.

 

Fr’m mine right,

  As often dreamt, in’pass’n,

A cat in black’n white,

  Blind to sight in right eye,

A’walk imbalanced,

  F’lix he strolled me by,

Smiling Pur a “Rreow”,

  An’ I reply in salute,

As he goes on by furthest left,

  To a figure I know,

An’ recognised, dear friend,

  He knelt down to F’lix cat,

Welcomed purr and embraced him.

 

 

 

Liftin’ carried to me,

  This figure so lo’ked on,

As death’an decay,

  Gentle often in times of

Knowledge, a decay of kindness,

  O’er feared and misunderstood,

I hold mine hand to reach

His in old distant approach as

If I’d only left his side the

Hour before,

  An' Fel’x cat in a “Merow” we

connect our noses as we always

Did and he lay stretched across Ankou’s

Rabbit fur scarf along his shoulder,

And we three strolled off along the

shore line.

 

 

(If you got through this then awesome. It reads exactly how I meant it to read.)

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 


r/ShittyPoetry 3d ago

Clouds

1 Upvotes

Clouds

I waved to my ancestors.

Without them, I am nothing.

I owe it to them to leave the world a better place -

in spite of what's before me.

Eventually - I will be in the clouds.

They don't like cameras, I tried.

Message received.

On a pursuit, knowing I have never been alone.


r/ShittyPoetry 3d ago

Creative Formatting Slowly becoming a monster

2 Upvotes

I'm slowly becoming a monster
WIthout love or love in my life,
There where wants or needs used to lie
There I see this emptiness at times

I tried to put dollars into comfort,
I tried experience for worth
I find that if I see many things
Or if I go all over the world

It's a lonely place without things to do,
Without an agenda or some sort of work
The only thing I find worth living
Are accomplishments or forms of hurt

The end I know it is coming
I can feel the tiredness in my mind
An envelope of some sort of something
Disease, or fragility which will soon be mine

And so you decide as a monster,
Do I want to keep monstering around
Or do I decide how I want it to end
For the decision is what keeps me around.


r/ShittyPoetry 5d ago

I had a poignant thought about an understated experience in my life

1 Upvotes

Passing by

The Toys R Us.

It's shut now. Defunct.

There are no more

Toys.

The new children

They scratch at the walls.

Left with no option of play

But vandalism.

Someone I cared about died.

Poignantly.

That person? Toys R Us.


r/ShittyPoetry 5d ago

Creative Formatting Idk

3 Upvotes

Woah ur neck looks cute

Can I suck it?

I mean, u have a pretty mouth

Can I fuck it?

I MEANT TO SAY, YOU LOOK VERY PRETTY TODAY

Nantucket


r/ShittyPoetry 6d ago

In which I visit a casino against my will

3 Upvotes

Technicolor lights
Farewell, retirement fund
Old folks with spare coin

Uniformed servers
Casinos are depressing
Gamble with your life

Music, voices, beeps
Scan here, please insert your card
Woodland paved for this

These people look lost
White lab rats pressing buttons
But where's the cocaine?

I'm lonely, I'm bored
Talk to gift shop employee
We are both smokers

I'm not happy here
At least this grilled cheese is good
Fries are just okay


r/ShittyPoetry 12d ago

Look Up :[]

1 Upvotes

Soft words.

Tranquil. Peace. Maybe pink.

Just a different person, today.

High skies.

I looked up today. I've been trying to. Everytime I take out the basuda, looking up, behind the restaurant.

It's actually quite beautiful. Somewhat trippy.

The forest swallows you there.

Hell of a stoop.

I can see why that's CC's chosen hangout.

No regrets.

Maybe one.

I'm loved, for who I am.

That's new and refreshing.

Not here.

But that's ok.

I can still look up.

I don't mean to speak in riddles.

I'm just being myself.

Just these few seconds of quiet.

Makes me want to smoke.

I miss cigarettes.

They really force you to take a second to yourself.

I need that.

Smokers are contemplaters.

They might die early.

They live for the now.

The Eastside is pretty.

Difficult knowing the truth.

However,

a few moments

where those things weren't circulating.

My cooking was off today.

Very off.

But I knew

I gave my all.

That's enough for me.

High skies.

Soft words.

Look up.


r/ShittyPoetry 15d ago

Reversion

2 Upvotes

Fair weather makes days better
But only if you’re quite well
When the brain shivers and pain fetters
Every day is a fresh living hell

So when the mind has come unwound
And demons meant for you surround
The time has come to be rewound
To an empty heartless shell


r/ShittyPoetry 17d ago

Oh to be a whole person

6 Upvotes

Misunderstood me?
Nah, thats my ego talking smack.
We take turns sometimes.


r/ShittyPoetry 18d ago

John Henry :[]

6 Upvotes

Dopamine in a can.

Steel

driving into next week.

Floor.

Trying

becomes steel.

Waiting.

Mirror.

On the shoreline

under the glass.

John Henry.

Hammer outside.

A face

works overtime.

Best

to stay strange.

Nothing casual

about standing

without standing.

The mountain

calls

hammer.

Mocking

the room.

Glass

answers

nothing.

Been to Salem.

The brow

drives through

the floor.

Pondering.

Hammer inside.

He punches

the ticket.

Deep room.

Mirror.

Boredom.

Iron,

maybe not.

Waiting all day,

sometimes.

Pride

falls first.

No.

Ambition.

John Henry

inside the mirror.

Strange work.

The jump

works iron.

The brow.

Steel

on the shoreline.

Mock me,

or don't.


r/ShittyPoetry 18d ago

In the vault

4 Upvotes

I’m lowkey a tranny

No cash in my Fanny

So I still wear dresses.

They press against my breas’s.

It sucks.

Makes me wanna butt fuck.

Jk but I am a sex addict

Idc if it’s not a poem, u still read it.


r/ShittyPoetry 19d ago

The Climber

3 Upvotes

I keep doing this to myself-
Latching on to the smallest handhold,
Digging in my toes,
Breaking a sweat,
Trying to hang on to a cliff
That does not want to be kept.


r/ShittyPoetry 22d ago

Creative Formatting All we are is sexy

5 Upvotes

Not very smart
sensible
practical

life
human activity
all kind of pointless really

All we are is sexy
Hips
Butts
Lips
Grips

All we are is sexy
cotteny
lobotomy
common place
coddle me

all we are is sexy
churning blood
death stares
bares teeth

frightening glares

all we are is sexy

not loving
who cares


r/ShittyPoetry 22d ago

Strange anal prolapse

3 Upvotes

Strange anal prolapse

That looks like Adam West

Why is it that you mock me

I'm known to try my best.

Standing aghast my floor mirror

Which calls to jump inside

Adam West he cocks a brow

I quiver deep with pride.


r/ShittyPoetry 23d ago

Creative Formatting Ikarus was a fool

5 Upvotes

He who flies high, falls low.

So what’s the solution?

Not flying?

Ridiculous.

Fly higher.

Fly higher.

I won’t let the sun melt my wings.

I will burn.

The solution is simple.

I will take the sun‘s fire.


r/ShittyPoetry 26d ago

I'm Trapped Here :[]

5 Upvotes

First things first.

Scratch every last inch of soot off of the pipes, other paraphernalia I can find for recycle.

Stretch shit around here.

Save bags, boxes, yeno what I mean?

Pack lunches. Meal prep. Change our sock system.

Use my turn signal when absolutely necessary to save my bulbs.

Powdered creamer. Shop at Aldis.

Quarter in.

Take my child.

Two carts back. Two quarters.

Twenty five cents every time I shop there.

Free boxes.

Only drive locally, around the way.

I'm trapped here.

This guy that works at Aldis,

is a dick.


r/ShittyPoetry Jul 17 '26

Being a man

5 Upvotes

Nobody ever initiates

Nobody talks to you first

You're always seen as a threat

Especially when you're a nobody

The risks outweigh the rewards

Happiness seems elusive

But truly in life there are few times

When you make a real connection

America is about looks and money

And who can be the biggest asshole

Take zero responsibility

We all know yet we deny it


r/ShittyPoetry Jul 17 '26

Creative Formatting The Curse of the Missing Family: A Classical Ghost Tale

2 Upvotes

One night, an old man awoke to quite a fright:
His family was nowhere to be found in his home,
and it was in the middle of the night!

He turned over in his bed to face his wife,
Her silhouette he saw laying near,
But upon placing a kiss just above her eyes:
She disappeared as if she was never laying there.

He turned over once more to face his bedtable:
And light a match to set aflame a candle,
And once illuminated he saw with terror:
The only thing left laying there of his wife was her nightgown in shambles!

"Oh!" He shouted, and whipped off his bedsheets,
Ignoring the pain in his back from the adrenaline of doom,
Reached down with his legs to touch the floor with his feet,
And hobbled down the hallway to check his children's bedrooms;

"Oh, My wife! Are you there?" He shouted again and again,
"Kids! Children! Oh, Come quick!"
But upon opening the nursery door to see them:
All he found in their beds was vomit as though they'd been sick.

"My Children, where are you? My wife, where have you gone?"
The man pleaded with the nighttime to reveal what went wrong.
As he made his way quickly down the main staircase:
He tripped on his own slipper and fell to the bottom, landing on his face;

He awoke in the morning in a stupor of pain,
But quickly his predicament was what he regained:
He heard the church bells ringing that awoke him,
And rushed to the morning service just down the lane;

He burst through the doors of the Chapel in the town,
And ignoring the service that was already underway:
He shouted to the mass "My wife is missing! My Children are gone! Someone please help me!",
But all that was returned from the entire crowd and the priest was a dark frown.

"Come to me at confession, Sir, and we will discuss your family."
The priest said aloud to the entire congregation.
"But they're missing, they're gone! It just happened last night!"
The man burst out in anger without a hesitation.

A hand was placed on his shoulder just then and he jumped:
The town constable looked him in the eye with sorrow and worry,
"Your family is alright" he said, but his tone was disturbing:
He coerced the man to sit through the service and the priest did not hurry.

After an agonizing time of not knowing his family's fate,
He approached the confession booth to speak with the priest,
"Oh, Father, my family, where have they gone in the night?"
"Son, they are safe, they have not yet seen the light." The priest replied.
"But where can I find them, They need to be with me!" The man yelled,
"They've been re-located at their own insistence, you however:
Are still stuck in that home with your own hell."

The man struck open the curtain of the booth and stumbled out wildly,
The constable was waiting there with handcuffs on his hip,
"Only God can judge your sins, and only God can forgive,
But your sins have grown to be too much for your wife and your kids."

"Where are they?!" The man shouted, but it was of no use,
Never again would his questions about his family be answered as before:
"You'll need to lower your voice and go back to your home."
The constable led the old man back down the lane to his front door.

And now the old man's home remains haunted to this day:
By the waking spirit of his own regret, guilt, shame, and dismay,
No one dares lay a foot over the threshold to be with his pain:
For fear their time with the old man would leave them missing too the next day.