country bumpkin

rural jamaica country days
before old folk are read
men don their three-piece sunday best
as off to church they head

they carry burnished shoes in hand
in case of accident
for severed toes are fairer trade
than shoes with rockstone dent

the sunday sermon gives them sleep
to shield them from the wake
of parson's endless episode
of hell's grim burning lake

the closing sankey wakes the pews
whose snores mutate to song
then off their feet the sunday shoes
as homeward march the throng

to dress stubbed toes and heave big sighs
and swear by adam's lieu
what if that bruise were not my toe
instead of my new shoe!

© Copyright 2023 February 20
by Clyve A. Bowen