One Poem by Adrian David

 

The Abyss

To those of you saying there's no place worse than Hell,

think twice, for I, the bayakou, have my life's dark story to tell.

In a world that is constantly shooting for the stars,

I rot in the depths of despair, troubled by agonizing scars.

 

My body reeks entirely of indescribable filth and muck.

Deep below the ‘everyday’ world, I am miserably stuck.

Doing an essential job, I hold back my many dreams,

all for the sake of earning a few gourdes and centimes.

 

Scooping buckets of human excrement with my bare hands,

I feel forlorn every night, exhausting my tear glands.

Plugging my nose with tobacco, I try to escape reality,

haunted by the thoughts of my work-related mortality.

 

The stench entering my nostrils is too much to bear.

Over time, I have forgotten the smell of fresh air.

The sewer rats and roaches scurrying by my side

were the only souls who lent an ear while I cried.

 

Being ostracized by society, I am left in deep pain.

Still, I pardon the dirty looks and unclog their drains.

It's said that the 21^st century revolutionized every field.

Yet here I am, banished to the abyss with my fate sealed.

 

*Bayakou - Sanitation workers in Haiti who empty pit latrines and septic tanks for a living with no safety gear. Because of their substandard work conditions, they are stigmatized by society.

*Gourdes and centimes - The gourde is the currency of Haiti. Each gourde is divided into 100 centimes.

Adrian David writes ads by day, and poetry and short fiction by night. His poems explore themes of chaos, conflict, society, existential crises, and everything in between, from the mundane to the sublime.