Ballad of the Dollar | Teen Ink

Ballad of the Dollar

October 23, 2012
By Apollo77 PLATINUM, Brunswick, Ohio
Apollo77 PLATINUM, Brunswick, Ohio
20 articles 0 photos 103 comments

Favorite Quote:
"All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.”
"Madame, all stories, if continued far enough, end in death, and he is no true-story teller who would keep that from you."
-Ernest Hemingway


Sometime towards the end of May,
A boy walked alone on wood-grove way
He whistled the tune of a popular song
Until slowly but surely a man came along

The man was short, but fat all the same
His shoes were polished, but his smile pained
He puffed on a pipe while he walked very slow
And when he passed the boy, he hollered 'hello'

The boy gave a start when he heard the fat man
He was still busy whistling, but offered his hand
The man shook it with unexpected strength
And asked of the boy 'have you a dollar, dear saint?'

The boy shook his head and kept down the road,
Heartening his whistle to a jovial blow
The man grasped his shoulder and pulled him aside
'young man, have you a dollar? I asked you polite.'

The boy pulled his shoulder and backed away
He hurried his pace, but the tune never swayed.
He walked very fast from the fat, persistent man
And he didn't see the knife which was raised in his hand.

And sometime towards the end of May,
A man walked alone on wood-grove way
He whistled the tune which never once fell
To the dollar in his pocket which felt so swell.



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This article has 3 comments.


on Mar. 24 2013 at 9:04 am
Rolledthestone SILVER, Nowhere, Other
8 articles 0 photos 108 comments

Favorite Quote:
"You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye." (Matthew 7:5) and "All the poeple who supported slavery were free, all the people who support abortion live..."

yay, a rhyming poem! You kinda lost the rhyme sheme towards the end which was disappointing but I loved the plot/ story behind that poem. Tres cool.

on Feb. 27 2013 at 10:54 am
SteelersJdog GOLD, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
15 articles 0 photos 29 comments
This is fantastic. I know I said that 'Compromise' might have been your best work, but this really rivals it. At the beginning, I could see the simple rhyme scheme and was beginning to worry a little bit, but the whole lightheartedness of the poem contrasted with the dark underlying theme really grasped my attention.   In this poem, you really have a good sense of contrast. The simple and jolly rhyme scheme coupled with a lighthearted setting and jovial characters really does a good job of offsetting the corrupted antagonist and the evil setting that closes the poem. This contrast gives the poem great diversity and intrest level. It's a beautiful technique, and most people make the contrast too drastic, but your subtle progression toward the dark ending is perfect.   I also, as I hinted at earlier, love the progression of this poem. The shift in mood is so natural, that's what makes this poem come to life. In this poem, I felt that you did a fantastic job with your use of punctuation and stanza structure. The weight of the words in the final few stanzas stand alone while the middle and less-climatic stanzas have more exposition.   Overall, excellent work.

on Jan. 18 2013 at 1:46 pm
Emma-Riley PLATINUM, No, Other
44 articles 0 photos 50 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Take my hand i give it to you, now you own me all i am, you said you would never leave me, i believe you, i believe..."
-Flyleaf

well dang! (: haha this is very good! it was kind of suspensful for me, when the boy sped up and tried to walk away. i love how you didn't flat out say what happened to the boy... you left it up to the reader... that's really awesome. good job