There were three men.
They were wealthy
and had all they ever wanted
and more.
Then there were the beggars.
Sitting in gutters
choking on life.
The first man said,
"I have so much,
but these people sit beneath me in filth.
I will give to theme all I own."
And so he did.
The poor rejoiced in the splendor
they received.
But its riches did not last long,
nor the first man.
He died in the filth
he had tried to clean.
The second man,
seeing the mistakes of he before him,
gave to the less fortunate
all he could
without drowning himself.
The beggars took it with pleasure,
but when its glory ran dry
they pounded his door for more.
"I have nothing left to give,"
he cried,
"nothing but my own beating heart!"
So they took that too.
Know that it was not greed
that stank in the pit of their chests,
but blind starvation.
The Third man looked upon
the gloom of there filth
and took a walk to the town square.
There in the slime of the city
he chose one ragged boy.
"You see this?"
he questioned
pulling one copper coin from his pocket.
The boy nodded in aw.
"Take it to the women over there.
Buy from her yeast for bread
and make with it your own loaf,
then sell it
for two coins,"
He died,
a wealthy man.
This is a well written poem because it made me think. For example: when we annotate poems for the Socratic Circles, the poems usually have some sort of symbolism or a part that we have to think about to discuss in the circle. Those are good poems. A poem is good if it has meaning to it and writing tricks like symbolism. In the poem, I had to think about it and what the purpose of it was. Therefore, because this poem makes you think like the professional ones, it is a good poem.
ReplyDeleteThis peom kind of reminds me what we are learing about in social studies. the filthy men took all of the money that a wealthy man gave him with nothing in return but being even more greedy. then the last man of three told a little boy to buy bread for a coin and sell it for two. this is what robber barons did when they were greedy to get wealthy. good poem!
ReplyDeleteI think this poem is really good beause it made me question my values. I thought about what I would do in each of the man's places. Since I actually thought about the poem it was good. It also made me think of the world. While some people have so much, others in the world are living in poverty. It made me think if we are actually doing the world good, which I think we are.
ReplyDeleteI think this poem was really good because it teaches you to learn from mistakes instead of making the same ones. In the poem, the first and second man gets killed by giving to the beggers, but the third man taught a boy how to make money instead of giving him everything he had. The third man learned from others that money only lasts a certain time, but teaching someone how to do something can help them for a life time.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this poem. As said above it made me question my values and make me think. Overall you did a great job! keep writing
ReplyDeleteThis Poem sounds like something an old wise man would write to elaborate on the saying " give a man a fish, feed him for a day, teach a man to fish, and you would feed him for a lifetime. Overall, it was great, keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteYeah I agree with Sean, this poem shows how you can always be as generous as possible, but someday the well will dry out. It is knowledge that will last people lifetimes, and in this poem when the 3rd wealthy man shows a poor boy how to use his resources to earn money, everyone wins, and that boy learns a lesson that will last him his lifetime.
ReplyDeleteI think that the ending of this poem was really good because you showed that one mans wealth is another mans poverty. You basically said buy the bread for one coin and sell it for 2 for the poor guy to be wealthy. Therefore, you must be implying that the poor guy felt rich when he got that free coin, and actually did something with it, instead of sulking like the used to be rich man. He probably used the same method to make more profit and die rich.
ReplyDeletethis is really good. it shows what greed will do to someone that isnt careful and you had a strong theme.
ReplyDeletethis is really good. it was a very clever story, and like srichard said it does kindof elaborate on that saying. its very good, good job.
ReplyDelete