No silver spoon when she was born
No nursery, no christening dress
The clothes her sisters wore before
came down, her skinny frame to bless
And celebrations were there none
they served no economic need
compared to work that must be done
for one more hungry mouth to feed.
Things got no better as she grew
from unplanned babe to unloved lass
Learning her lessons hard in lieu
of any moments spent in class
Then innocence she traded for
the first affection she was shown
Though when she looked for something more
she found out that wild bird had flown.
So forced by circumstance to wed
her mother found a sanguine buyer
to take her to his marriage bed
regardless of her heart's desire
Where she became a bartered wife
as bought and sold as any whore
and so re-lived her mother's life
and those of those who went before.
Whose lives were taken slice by slice
and day by unforgiving day
The cost of living being a price
that they were ill equipped to pay
until the end of each hard fight
when shades were drawn and all could see
the thing the doctor couldn't write
that they were killed by poverty.
The lessons we should learn from this
from every wasted human life
are Ignorance is never bliss
and Poverty cuts like a knife