THE DRIFTER

Phil Roberts 1957 (Melbourne)



Drifting into town
A man is smelly rags,
Follows death and despair.

Though never the cause
The Drifter loves suffering,
Feeding upon death.

Drifting near train tracks
He sees some ancient hobos,
Smiling when one dies.

Hunched round a barrel
In which detritus burns,
The Drifter drawing near.

Unknown to them
Yet, still the hobos panic as
The Drifter draws near.

Unaware of risk
One hobo crosses the path,
Of an express train.

As the hobo dies
The Drifter walks away,
Smirking like a demon.

Drifting into town
He sees a young street person,
Freezing out of doors.

Watching as the girl
Finally freezes to death,
He shivers with joy.

Drifting near an inn
He sees street brawlers fight,
Delighted by their blood.

One man falls backward
With a loud crunching of bone,
His skull caved right in.

As the police arrive
The Drifters smiles and starts
Walking on again.

THE END
© Copyright 2021 Philip Roberts
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Submitted by PHIL_ROBERTS on May 26, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

47 sec read
3

Quick analysis:

Scheme Abx xxc xbd xxe xxe xxx dxf Afx xcx gxx xxg xxx xx
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 869
Words 157
Stanzas 13
Stanza Lengths 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 2

Phil Roberts

I turn 65 on the 31st of January 2022. I love cats, rock music, and horror fiction and poetry more…

All Phil Roberts poems | Phil Roberts Books

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