Untitled Poem
Victor Frost
This acapella was recorded for LilMann77 on the FreeSound forums in response to his request for someone to read the following poem.
Picture a young boy
growing up in a suburban home
sitting in the seventh pew of the local church
reciting with all of the others
“God is good”
with an empty expression
because that’s what he’d been taught to do.
Picture a boy
coming home from school
to see his stay-at-home mom
with a needle in her arm and a note that says
“I’m sorry.”
so he watches television until his dad comes home
from another night of drinking.
The boy hadn’t eaten yet.
The church found out and told the boy
they would pray for him and with their
empty expressions said
“God has special plans for you”
but he did not feel comforted.
Picture a young man
visiting his mom in the hospital
who had to have her arm amputated
because of heroin overdose
and the only trace of his father
is the signature at the bottom of
divorce papers
and when he graduates high school
he’ll have to find any job he can
to care for his mother because the hospital bills
are becoming too much a burden to stay
and the church does their deed for the day
by telling the young man
“God forgives.”
But he just wonders
‘What did I do for God to forgive?’
Picture a man with no trace of family left
after his mother died in the bedroom
and he lost the only job he could find
and has been unemployed for years
keeping shelter in his smaller home with
Kenmore stamped on the side
and the only comfort he has is his right palm
and his third beer of the day
as the church watches on and preaches
of the sins the man has committed resulting
in his homelessness.
“God has forsaken him”
they would say among each other
and the man wonders
“Whose god would do this?”
Picture an old man
Laying in a wooden box
in front of family who found out of his existence
only because of a phone call
and a preacher reading scriptures
and saying
“God was testing him
to see him fit for heaven.”
And the old man gets lowered into the earth
where he will reside for eternity
not needing to face the god
he called enemy.
Picture a young boy
growing up in a suburban home
sitting in the seventh pew of the local church
reciting with all of the others
“God is good”
with an empty expression
because that’s what he’d been taught to do.
Picture a boy
coming home from school
to see his stay-at-home mom
with a needle in her arm and a note that says
“I’m sorry.”
so he watches television until his dad comes home
from another night of drinking.
The boy hadn’t eaten yet.
The church found out and told the boy
they would pray for him and with their
empty expressions said
“God has special plans for you”
but he did not feel comforted.
Picture a young man
visiting his mom in the hospital
who had to have her arm amputated
because of heroin overdose
and the only trace of his father
is the signature at the bottom of
divorce papers
and when he graduates high school
he’ll have to find any job he can
to care for his mother because the hospital bills
are becoming too much a burden to stay
and the church does their deed for the day
by telling the young man
“God forgives.”
But he just wonders
‘What did I do for God to forgive?’
Picture a man with no trace of family left
after his mother died in the bedroom
and he lost the only job he could find
and has been unemployed for years
keeping shelter in his smaller home with
Kenmore stamped on the side
and the only comfort he has is his right palm
and his third beer of the day
as the church watches on and preaches
of the sins the man has committed resulting
in his homelessness.
“God has forsaken him”
they would say among each other
and the man wonders
“Whose god would do this?”
Picture an old man
Laying in a wooden box
in front of family who found out of his existence
only because of a phone call
and a preacher reading scriptures
and saying
“God was testing him
to see him fit for heaven.”
And the old man gets lowered into the earth
where he will reside for eternity
not needing to face the god
he called enemy.