End Game

Based on a real event

It will always be his, and no one shall have it!

When you get all you want, getting more is a habit

He had all he could wish for but couldn’t go on spending

Except for the banks, no one knew what was pending

They’ll do much for the rich - except carry on lending

 

When there’s nothing but debt, and collaterally-met,

They would take all his cars, and his house, every fret

His wife’s birds, his guns, and his little girl’s horses

But all said and done, they’re just horses for courses

They were all to be fodder in a war with dark forces

 

That had plagued his strange mind since the first day he prospered

From then on control was not easily fostered

The money rolled-in, too fast for the counting

His roots seemed so lowly, he’d soon be renouncing

His family, his home-town - they’d all come a-pouncing

 

At the first sniff of wealth -he now shared higher circles-

They’d embarrass him, just like a zoo or a circus

He’d moved on from that, now a squire, now a gent

Big deals, country house, and the rules to be bent

But his genius for buying he’d soon circumvent

 

The posh school for his daughter, two cars for his wife

-For what he owed the taxman he might just get ‘Life’-

His millionaire trappings, his shotguns and dogs

Member’s card to the gun club, the Rolex-gold togs

He’d be losing it all - but not ‘popping-his-clogs’

 

And he’d not live with that, nor leave it to them

This mess, this disaster, what would he be then?

A failure, a nothing, no man you could trust in

No man at all, least of all like the mountain

His daughter imagined him - three coins in a fountain

 

That’s all they were now: he, his wife, and his daughter

The wishes of lambs that were led to the slaughter

He watched his wife sleeping, his childhood sweetheart

He’d not go on cheating, and rip them apart!

Their ‘pride-and-joy’ saving herself to be smart

 

He noticed the little girl’s light was still on

She’d long said ‘goodnight’ but he knew her old con

The teenage obsession with gossiping prose

She sent one last message which read ‘Dad’s too close’

And pretended to sleep like she’d taken a dose

 

As he entered her room, loading blanks in his mind

He knew that he had to be cruel to be kind

Put the gun to her head, closed his eyes, pulled the trigger

He would’ve had to be strong, would’ve had to be bigger

To carry on living, see her blossoming figure

 

As she grew up to find that her life had no bottom

Just a loop-hole to fall in, that he had forgotten

He forgot it all now as he turned out her light

And shut up the door on the hideous sight

There was no turning back on this terrible plight

 

And his wife was still sleeping, not hearing the shot

-With a silencer on for the death of her tot-

And she didn’t stir now, as he knelt down beside her

Knew nothing at all of the final reminder

And the note from the bailiffs -his final decider

 

Hammer cocked, squeezing trigger, and eyes wide shut

All he felt at her death was the recoiling butt

He knew for all else that he’d have to stay cold

The only way through it for a plan so bold

For already, at 50, their lives had been sold

 

Now all that was left were his dogs and the stable

For this part of the end, he was far more than able:

Dispatching them calmly, dog after horse

With tunnel-minded focus, unspeakable force

No space now for thinking, no place for remorse

 

Then he fixed-up a hose to the oil tank he’d bought

Fed it into the house with but one single thought:

To let it all burn. Then he stepped back to look

At his fairy-tale palace, like the end to a book

Like a mirage, a dream - his ‘Rookery Nook’

 

That he’d built-up on paper, foundations of debt

And gambled-away like a school-boyish bet

Too late to regret now, he flicked-up the flame

Of his gilt-edged old lighter, embossed with his name

Then petrol to flame - and an end to his game

 

He entered the kitchen -it wouldn’t be long-

And took out an album: old photos, days gone

A last tragic cry, put it back on the shelf

The past was a plot, deciding his self

His marriage, his daughter, his nature, his wealth

 

Then he ambled upstairs to the faint smell of smoke

Laid next to his wife and waited to choke

But his very last thought was oddly quite sunny:

A misquoted phrase which he’d always found funny -

‘A fool is soon parted from he and his money.’

Reviews

[Sara]

wow, what an intense poem, and extremely well-crafted and so relevant for today... i love the contrast between the almost flippant tone the rhyming gives the poem and the actual content of the poem itself - it makes everything even more chilling. i love the build-up to the end as well: the initial set up of having this rich, selfish man - and then this slowly dawning horror as he takes this same selfishness to such an extreme. just, wow... great job.

[J.M. Barrett]

"It will always be his, and no one shall have it!
When you get all you want, getting more is a habit"

Right off the bat you pull your readers in with a perfectly crafted start to this just as perfectly crafted poem. And wow, must I say, a very good poem it was.
I could not predict where it was going. Each sentence, each verse had me at the edge of my seat.

And the way you tied it all up. Impeccable.

"Then he ambled upstairs to the faint smell of smoke
Laid next to his wife and waited to choke
But his very last thought was oddly quite sunny:
A misquoted phrase which he’d always found funny -
‘A fool is soon parted from he and his money.’"

You are brilliant.

[Albatross]

What happens when you gamble your life. It's unfortunate that his was money. How, in the end, he'd forgotten that what was truly valuable, then in his final act of greed, decided to try and take it all with him. Unfortunately, this describes perfectly the lives of all too many.

I loved the intensity, how you rolled your poem into such a climax, and drew it so nicely to an end with the characters odd humor. The overall mood of the poem is light, but alludes to some certain doom. Beautifully done:)

[A.Lee]

Wow, you did a great job with this. I love the way the last stanza ended, very solid. And what a lesson! You did a great job. I would never have been able to carry a story that long in poem. Well done :)

[Truly Ross-Wisehart]

This is riveting. I am blown away by the detail and walked with him every step as he finished his end game. Chilling. Bravo!

~True

[MissWordSmith]

wow. just wow. i am amazed with the clarity with which you write. what fantastic descriptions and the whole thing was just filled with amazing words that you put down so well. the rhyming was good too!
this poem was so DETAILED... I love it!
Keep up the fantastic work!
NYTG

[ashley]

This was incredible. Amazing. Great job! :D