The Man I Hated

His obituary was short
So little to report
Listings of family and friends
The usual things they say at the end
Of an ordinary man’s life
Like the name of his wife
All prattle and drivel.
 I read nothing about the evil
That consumed and tainted
The man I knew and hated.
They never mentioned the crime
That connected his life with mine.
His death will never wipe away
The things that he did to me on that day
When I was still a child
And he was a man.