Gathering Dust

Gathering Dust
by Vivian Gilbert Zabel

The stooped man stared at his life,
memories shrouded in dust:
the children that never were,
the loss of his only love, his wife.

The young woman frowned into space.
Her future loomed cloudy and dim
without any pattern or hope found.
The hero she awaited forever has no face.

Silently, a babe cries in distress,
no loving arms wrap him close.
If a drunken mother remembers,
she feeds but without lessening his stress.

Lives piled like worthless lumber,
gathering dust without any value.
All struggle through as best they can
until finally they face their final slumber.