Open Eyes by Dreamflower

[dreamflower]

B2MeM Challenge: B-13, Hobbits, "The Battle of Bywater"; Poetic Forms, "free verse"
Format: Poetry, Free Verse
Title: Open Eyes
Genre: Poetry
Rating: G
Warnings: N /A
Characters: An unnamed ruffian
Pairings: N/A
Summary: Not all were ruffians from the start...


Open Eyes


I didn't know when we came here, I didn't.
There was a few of us, just a few, I'm sad to say even that many,
of us who closed our eyes to all but the coin and the chance to make a bit, easy.
They came up from the South to Bree and Archet and Staddle
with golden coins and promises.
We learnt soon enough, but we dursn't say a thing,
not even to one another,
soon enough not even to cringe or roll our eyes at one another.
We'd find ourselves in hot water if we did.
The others, the ones who'd promised us the coin,
the ones who bragged of easy pickings--
they kept a tight hold on us,
made us do some of the dirty work, too,
till we were as dirty as them.
A couple of recruits managed to slip away before it all came down on us,
the lucky birds.
The rest of us, us who had closed our eyes till we got here,
well, we got our eyes opened for us.
And even if we didn't like what we had to do,
we did it anyhow.
I did it anyhow.
Just to save my own neck.
And just to save my own neck
I was glad to see the end.
Some of us, we just sat down and let it happen,
let the little folk take their own back
and show us over the border;
I thought I'd leave my shame behind, go back to Bree.
But how can I ever look in a mirror again?
I did it to make a little coin.
I did it to save my own neck.
I can't say now it was ever worth it.
What am I worth now?

Comments

[harrowcatliz.livejournal.com]

Very well expressed feelings. And very true for many in M-E and, sadly, in the modern world too.

[dreamflower]

I've toyed with the idea before, that not all the ruffians started out that way, and that some of them might have regretted their part in what happened in the Shire.

It is all too easy to get caught up in someone else's bad ideas and then find no way out...

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

This was chilling and sad in a way. Poor guy.

[dreamflower]

Poor guy! I am sure that maybe a few of the ruffians did not know what they were getting themselves into when they went to the Shire, and they'd feel bad about it ever after...

[blslarner.livejournal.com]

Oh, Barbara--what a look at those who joined the Ruffians and found themselves tainted by the company they'd chosen to keep! I am glad the speaker's honorable enough to accept he's lost a good deal of himself in his actions.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, I feel so sorry for him. Things that start so small and seemingly harmless became a web that brought their own ruin. The last line is just chilling.

What am I worth now?

Never thought that I would feel sorry for a ruffian but then again he started out a lot like you and I. It could have been anyone.

[dreamflower]

I've always thought that there might be a few, recruited in Bree to perhaps make up numbers, that did not truly understand until it was too late what they had let themselves in for.

Once it was all over, how could they live with the shame of what they'd done?