Frightened

by Joan Wilson

I’ve never had to duck into an alley way

That’s a place we never used way back in our day

But we had a miserable neighbour and his surname was ‘alley’

He was nothing but a disgusting person, skinny and ugly

He wasn’t much to look at or admire

His mouth was loud and full of fire

He had no respect for any of us around

If we approached him he’d want to knock us down

 

He abused his young ignorant wife a lot

He made her miserable but no one deserved what she got

Her face was twisted and her mouth so scarred

She never had the sense to leave or even be afraid

 

You see she had all these children and they needed a dad

They didn’t care too much if he was loud and mad

Their real fathers didn’t care for them at all

So they stayed where they had shelter and a dad to call

 

He was Caymanian by birth with USA citizenship

He’d outgrown his Caymanian niceness and didn’t give a rip

He carried on merry hell most of the day

Drinking and cussing at everyone passing his way

 

He didn’t frighten me though with his awful behaviour

He could swear and cuss at me every minute and every hour

He was a man and an old one at that

So I made him know who was who and what was what

 

The day finally came when we’d had enough of his carrying on

I took the children away – his wife was sitting on the ground

I took him and shook him until he could take no more

He shook his head and looked up at me from the floor

 

“I’ll get you so don’t you turn your back on me”

“I’ll be waiting for you come on over and you’ll see”

Your children are on the porch safely out of your way

As long as you are carrying on that’s just where they’ll stay

I’m happy to say the children have grown up and matured

Into well educated and hard working adults – memories cured

Their mother is walking the roads – sadly now a beggar you see

Her face is still scarred and always will be.