Guilty

Cut down to one inch above trembling soil

Abandoned without a sign to warn of fragile seed newly cast

They forced you to grow different dreams than your own

And used a hatchet to break unyielding root

I am so sorry I didn’t stand better guard

When your visions were so tender

Born into poverty of concern

Demands for Latte and Crème Brule trample gilded notes

While you carry a tray

Instead of holding your guitar

Like a beautiful woman spilling sensuous requests

Upon repose for poets and hungry dreamers.

(Lynette Bat-Abba, April 2009)