Login
|
Join PoetrySoup
Home
Submit Poems
Login
Sign Up
Member Home
My Poems
My Quotes
My Profile & Settings
My Inboxes
My Outboxes
Soup Mail
Contest Results/Status
Contests
Poems
Poets
Famous Poems
Famous Poets
Dictionary
Types of Poems
Videos
Resources
Syllable Counter
Articles
Forum
Blogs
Poem of the Day
New Poems
Anthology
Grammar Check
Greeting Card Maker
Classifieds
Quotes
Short Stories
Member Area
Member Home
My Profile and Settings
My Poems
My Quotes
My Short Stories
My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder
Soup Social
Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us
Member Poems
Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Random
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread
Member Poets
Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest
Famous Poems
Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100
Famous Poets
Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War
Poetry Resources
Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetics
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter
Email Poem
Your IP Address: 3.17.142.93
Your Email Address:
Required
Email Address Not Valid.
To Email Address:
Email Address Not Valid.
Required
Subject
Required
Personal Note:
Poem Title:
Poem
...“My mother said he did it to survive, the farm was failing, the crops wouldn’t thrive, he had to find money, so rode with them, so desperate he’d go with criminal men. “My father’s death was quite hard, I’ll admit, but that wasn’t the reason I did it. I know he broke the law, knew what he did, even if he did it to feed his kids. “But it was later, after he had gone, we had no money, and could not last long. My mother went begging, but none would help, the town knew her husband, cursed her to hell! “I have six younger sisters back at home, we kept getting weaker, just skin and bones! My ma was so desperate, she went to DeWills, begged since her children’s stomachs went unfilled. “And to her surprise, DeWills did agree, but said ‘her kind’ shouldn’t get help for free, I didn’t know then, what he took from her, but when she came back, she looked much, much worse. “Every week she went, and came back with gold, but her eyes and face, looked more and more cold, she spoke less to me, and my sisters too, I knew something was wrong, but not what to do. “I heard the snickers, one day when in town, heard all the rumors that were going ‘round, that ma was a whore, DeWills' private poke, hothing more now than ‘a hole for his strokes.’ “ ‘My enemies wife, on the table bent,’ were the words he said, I heard it from them! I was so angry that I had no breath-- and it was the day my ma usually left. “So I went to the ranch, deep in the night, kept to the shadows to avoid a fight, I found DeWills’ window, and then peered in, I…I saw my poor mother…u-underneith him.” He paused a second, tears streamed down his face, Connolly was stunned, felt his own heart race, he moved to speak, to comfort the lad, then the kid spoke up, “It gets even more bad! “When she left that night, she saw me, hiding, ran off for our home, I could hear her crying. When I got there my sisters were asleep, but ma wasn’t there, and that frightened me. “She had to be somewhere, but I knew naught, then from the old barn I heard a gunshot. I walked out afraid of what I would find… and now I can’t get it out of my mind. “She had my pa’s shotgun clutched in her hand, she'd taken her life, and left herself damned, I couldn’t go inside, tell my sisters that they no longer would have a mother… “So I rode out, upon this half-starved horse, I had to make him pay for that horror! I couldn’t forgive him, I will not, I can’t! Not even if I’m now a wanted man!” CONCLUDES IN PART IV.
CAPTCHA Preview
Type the characters you see in the picture
Required