drained pocket
life has been so difficult.
John sniffed the earth and mewed.
"I can't do anything right any more
and everything I do seems to be the wrong thing.
I haven't got the things I thought life held.
I wanted a loving wife, a nice home,
a child that would bear my name.
It wasn't wrong to want those things, was it?"
"No, John, they are the dear deep desires of all the human race.
But I think you went wrong somewhere."
another borrower, wanted
some special treatment,
on the installment plan-
its golden key,
scratching treasures,
just husks
buying countless pieces
of the broken spirit,
struggling,
demanding,
the tinsel and the gilt,
silk pajamas set with tiny pearls,
the beauties of the flesh,
a bowl of roses,
sugar buns,
you forget you have to pay to possess.
A wave of unworthiness washed over him.
"She needs something."
"Thanks, John." She took the proffered sand,
"That's going to come in very handy."
for men who need an advance,
an extra week's vacation,
magic,
as if the world owed them
something.