THE SWEEPER

Phil Roberts 1957 (Melbourne)



The sweeper sweeps away the lies
Of those who freely sin;
She sweeps away their worthless lives
So that better lives may begin.

She sweeps away the guilty
Who have managed to go ungaoled;
And replaces them with innocents
Who lives at first had failed.

She sweeps away the murderers
Whose crimes have gone unpunished;
And returns to life the pure at heart
Whose life had too soon finished.

She sweeps away the decadent
The rich, amoral, and the greedy,
And gives their lives like Robin Hood
To the poor, downtrodden, and needy.

She sweeps away the ugly souls
Who steal, and plot, and cheat,
Collecting their ill-gotten wealth
For those who have known defeat.

The sweeper tries to fix the mess
We’ve let this old world get in,
By helping out the good and fine
And punishing those who sin.

THE END
© Copyright 2021 Philip Roberts
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

About this poem

The Sweeper sweeps away worthless lives to replace them with cleaner lives that have failed for some reason. (You might call her a 'Less Grim Reaper'.)

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Written on March 12, 2014

Submitted by PHIL_ROBERTS on June 21, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

45 sec read
3

Quick analysis:

Scheme XAXA BBXX XCXC XBXB XDXD XAXA XXX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 834
Words 151
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3

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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