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Please Mrs. Henry!
- THEY a poem

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Please Mrs. Henry!
- THEY a poem
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- Please Mrs. Henry!
  - THEY a poem

THEY

THEY is a poem by Brian A. Ask and included in the book Please, Mrs. Henry!

Putting one foot in front of the other, has never seemed so terribly hard. Getting ourselves to the end of the week, has never looked so incredibly far. Bringing home our daily bread, should not have to take so awfully long. And keeping a roof above our head, was supposed to make us mighty and strong.

Play by the rules, is what they have said, things will work out right. Finish your studies, finish your work, someday you will see the light. Save up your dimes, as you go along, they will bring you love and joy. Watch your tongue, keep strong, and remember you must always be coy.

Keep your chin up, continue to climb, keep your focus on the prize. Don’t hang your head low, don’t wallow in tears, keep your eye to the skies. Trust in the plan and trust in the way, they are right, and they’re here for you. Trust in the people who tell you the way, their words will always be true.

These are the words that have guided our lives, the words we’re told to live by. These are the lies that have destroyed our pride, lies where hope goes to die. We did what they said, we kept all our faith, we always followed their rules. Yet, in the end, they took everything we had, and left us for groveling fools.

Along the way, they said it’s fair and that failure must be our own. They said it’s our fault, when things go wrong, they said we should have known. Or maybe, they said, the fault is our neighbor’s, for he certainly must have taken, our hopes, our dreams, our joy, our pride, it’s for him that we are forsaken.

Happy, they say, we all will be, when the stranger and neighbor are gone. Joy again, we all shall see, when they no longer can play their song. They say everything bad that is in our lives, was always someone else’s part. They say that our happiness will return, when the stranger and neighbor depart.

But we have seen this show, and we have heard this tale, time and time before. When the truth comes out, as it always will, it is they who have stolen the score. They’re not our neighbors, and they’re not a stranger, we all know who they are. They are the ones who take it all from us, they are the ones who go too far.

They have taken what they want, from the mouths of babes, since time began. They have lied to our face, and stolen our grace, from the dawn of man. It was they who said, the neighbor and stranger, are the ones who are no good. When it was them, all along, who had stolen the ground, upon which we stood.

They are the blithe, they are the scourge, the disease that erodes these shores. They are the hate, they are the fear, the raiders that have pillaged our stores. Their words should no longer be allowed a place, in the noise of this everyday life. Their hate shall no longer be given a space, in the heart I reclaim from this strife.

Tomorrow I rise, I greet my neighbor with the love and the respect that he needs. Tomorrow I say, unto the stranger, bring forth your good works, your good deeds. For today I have discovered, that everything bad that happens to us all. Is because of them, for they brought us this misery, it’s they who made us fall.

I will no longer believe, of the people in this world, that they were ever my enemy. I will no longer see, that the man by my side, is the reason I am not free. It is because of those people, that we are not free, they steal without remorse. You and I are not free, and we never will be, if we continue along on this course.

© 2026 Brian A. Ask - All Rights Reserved. Author of Please, Mrs. Henry! by Stinky Tofu Publishing

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