"I Know What The Mud-Man Feels" By Rosemary O'Keefe
I know what the Mud-Man feels
I know, I know the thoughts
That hurt his head
But I didn’t call myself
A Mud-Man,
I called myself The Deep
I knew people feared me
Didn’t like what I had become
Didn’t like sweet, innocent Rosie
Confined to a steel chair
Metal stabbed the earth
And went clang wherever she went
And pain and anguish
Left their scent
Upon every land she traveled
Yes, I know what the
Mud-Man feels
I can understand his ordeals
For I, too, carry that same stink
The one that never heals
A stink of sorrow
For the one named Rose
And the family
That loved her
She became the rat
The crow
That was always there
Living up the stairs
Leaching off the food
And the care
But she wasn’t wanted
And she knew she had to go
To save the family
From something
Someone
But not only someone
Who couldn’t give
But from someone who
would take
She became
The Deep
The soldier
The one they didn’t know
She wanted to be their Rosie
But Rosie was burned alive
And now a new one was
The new one who had survived
She knows how the Mud-Man feels
She knew people made of greed
Who wouldn’t give her help
In her time of need
For she knows what the Mud-Man knows
And she needs what the Mud-Man needs
And perhaps all the Mud-Man needs
The Mud-Man dreams
The Mud-Man wants
The Mud-Man pleads
Is freedom