The Chimney Boy’s Story

“Inside the chimney, high I climb.
It’s dark inside the sooty stack.
I bang my head, I graze my back,
I lose all sense of passing time.
Inside the chimney,
high I climb.

“Inside the chimney, high I climb.
Far, far above…. a patch of blue
where one white cloud drifts into view.
I stop to rest, but that’s a crime.
Inside the chimney,
high I climb.

“Inside the chimney, high I climb.
My bare feet slip on crumbling bricks.
I clear rooks’ nests – dead leaves and sticks.
The master yells, ‘Get working, brat!’
I’m starved. Sometimes I eat stewed rat.
Soot’s in my hair. I’m tasting grime.
Inside the chimney,
high I climb.”