Sympathy For Jacob Marley

"I wear the chain I forged in life,"

So stated the dreadful apparition.

He came as such that night to visit

His surviving partner.

Fettered with chains, wailing in woe

He tells the tale of his personal hell

Shaking his wretched self nearly to shreds

With his unearthly shrieks.

He frightens the readers, the audience too,

And they all say, "Serves him right."

But what if they were in his place?

Ignorant of their fate and what lay beyond

The grave?

For he knew not how

His karma would pay;

His worldly mind shrouded with Ignorance,

His corrupted soul overcome with Want,

Lust and greed for all weighed by gain-

Was the old man really to blame?

Though dead, and selfish, overwhelmed

With his punishment, forever in Hades

Still he came.

To redeem his old friend

And spare him the chains-

Remember, it was of his procuring, no doubt

That such a chance of hope came about.

Wished he not for such a friend to suffer

Though a bitter old miser he was

Constantly frozen in gloom,

So after seven years' time

He dragged his way up

For to steer his partner away

From a hideous doom.

A frightening fellow, I'll grant he is

(For ghosts are a frightening

Thing of which to think.)

And I know the old man deserved all he got;

In a way, he had driven himself over the brink.

And no good will at all did come into his being

Till long after into hell did he sink.

Yet in my heart I shall always hold a place

For the poor, ruined soul

Who, bound with irons, cashboxes and keys,

Managed to drag himself into this world

Link by link.

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Thank you for reading. I do not own the rights to any works of Dickens.  Happy Holidays to all.