Sunday, June 06, 2010

The Cold Within.

I'm going to post another favorite poem of mine. I also saw this in The Seven Habits, and, although haunting, it has a really deep meaning and a lesson that we should all learn.

THE COLD WITHIN
by James Patrick Kinney
 
Six humans trapped by happenstance
In harsh and bitter cold.
Each one possessed a stick of wood,
Or so the story's told. 
 
Their dying fire in need of logs,
The first woman held hers back
For on the faces around the fire
She noticed one was black. 

The next man looking cross the way
Saw one not of his church,
And couldn't bring himself to give
The fire his stick of birch. 

The third one sat in tattered clothes
He gave his coat a hitch.
Why should his log be put to use
To warm the idle rich? 

The rich man just sat back and thought
Of the wealth he had in store.
And how to keep what he had earned
From the lazy poor. 

The black man's face bespoke revenge
As the fire passed from his sight,
For all he saw in his stick of wood
Was a chance to spite the white. 

And the last man of this forlorn group
Did naught except for gain.
Giving only to those who gave
Was how he played the game. 

The logs held tight in death's still hands
Was proof of human sin.
They didn't die from the cold without,
They died from the cold within.

2 comments:

  1. Wow, that a very good and a rather deep analogy of man's sin. At least least that's my interpretation. Haha. How did you interpret the poem? :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I just think that if us man can go without prejudice and discrimination, our world will become a better place. :)

    ReplyDelete

If you have nothing nice to say, then stay away from the comment box.