When You Ain't Got Nothin



Chasing my thirst into the
  desert at night,
  Otis Redding was right….
   “You don’t miss the water till the well runs dry”

And marrying the wrong woman
  for the second time,
  Smokey Robinson was right….
   “You better shop around”

Writing my pen empty with the
  same old words,
  Cat Stevens was right….
   “The first cut truly is the deepest”

And living in Macon because
  I thought it was safe,
  Charlie Daniels was right….
    “The devil did come down to Georgia”

Losing my religion only to
  seek God again,
  Robert Plant was right….
   “You can’t buy a stairway to heaven”
  
And when I’m alone and desperate and have
   nowhere left to turn,
   Bob Dylan was the most righteous of all….
   “When you ain’t got nothin, you got nothin to lose”

(Villanova Pennsylvania: March, 2018)
Font size:
Collection  PDF     
 

Submitted by KurtPhilipBehm on March 15, 2018

Modified on March 05, 2023

39 sec read
29

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBX CXBX AXBX XXBA XXBC XXXX X
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 813
Words 133
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 1

Kurt Philip Behm

Longtime writer with twelve books in publication. Three of them Poetry. : The Death Of The Playground : The Sword Of Ichiban : Searching For Crazy Horse : Darkening Sun : An Anthology Of Perception-Vol's 1 & 2 : After Midnight : Sammy And Bumpers : The Fall City Mandate : Revenge Along The War Trail : Death from The Sky more…

All Kurt Philip Behm poems | Kurt Philip Behm Books

22 fans

Discuss the poem When You Ain't Got Nothin with the community...

0 Comments

    Translation

    Find a translation for this poem in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "When You Ain't Got Nothin" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/46813/when-you-ain't-got-nothin>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    March 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    3
    days
    14
    hours
    50
    minutes

    Special Program

    Earn Rewards!

    Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

    Browse Poetry.com

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    Do not go gentle into that good _______. Rage, rage against the dying of the light
    A end
    B day
    C fire
    D night