Too Many Days

No match

for the years

he has mortgaged,

he desperately needs

to buy back a few days

of his discounted life.

Down to proverbial

pocket change—

on his knees

a few hours alone

before dawn,

he is begging

for forgiveness

ahead of the lies

he will surely tell

his boss later:

a death in the family,

the grip of a migraine,

violent weather.

Desperate, his dishonesty

has become a rough tag

in his workaday shirt,

but nothing compared

to the peeling blisters

of one too many days

in his shoes.

by Anne McCrady

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