Lizzie Borden’s Lament

by Melissa Allen

First published in May/June, 2006, Volume 3, Issue 2, The Hatchet: Journal of Lizzie Borden Studies.

The lonely woman sits by the window,
Fondly observing the world outside,
A world that has turned away from her,
Since the day her parents died.

The fancy home filled with fine things,
She has longed for since her youth,
Is cold comfort for all that she has lost
Because you cannot buy the truth.

“They say that I do not cry,
They say I have never grieved”,
She sighs and wipes at her tears,
“The whole world has been deceived.”

“Abby was a good for nothing old thing,
Father was tight fisted and proud,
I decided when he gave her the half house,
Things such as this should not be allowed.

“Everything I have ever done, you see,
Every dollar that has ever been spent,
Has been all for nothing, in the end,
Oh, how could I not lament?