A/N: Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, f1 – poetry collection, and for the 100 Lists Challenge, 25s list 3 (prompt for this poem is #003 – nasty)
The Fraction on a Diary's Page
XX. karma
It's unfair that he's paying for sins
he hasn't even done: it's not his life
he's paying for, not his name
that's cursed –
But that's just it: it is his name
and because it is, he has to carry it
all his life
And what a short life
it is. A child and already ripped
in two, and the gods
will tear him even more
And they're not even his sins
to be borne.
He bears them though.
The sins of the father
are the sins of the son
even if he doesn't know
his father, or the sins
or anything of this at all.
He dashes around the streets like a mouse
and doesn't know the price
he owes, and the collectors
are coming for him soon.