Respite

De Von Grady HoughCheerful

Bills, bills, bills! Everybody wants my money, But what makes it all so funny, Is, I'm broker than a "hant."

Bills, bills, bills! They all think I'm full of shekels As a country boy with freckles, And can pay them when I can't.

Bills, bills, bills! If they knew of my condition, I would lack the inhibition Then to hold the pack at bay.

Bills, bills, bills But as long as I don't mention, All I have is good intention, I'll be safe for one more day.

De Von Grady Hough

SourceLicence:Public domain (US, unrenewed)

Mood:: Cheerful
Topics:: poverty, debt, money, bill

What is this poem about?

Summary

The speaker is hounded by creditors and quietly hiding the fact that he can't pay. Each stanza opens with the same weary cry, "Bills, bills, bills!", which works like a drumbeat of pressure that never lets up. What makes the situation "funny," he says, is the gap between appearance and reality: everyone assumes he's flush with money, while he's "broker than a 'hant,'" a dialect word for a ghost, which suggests he has next to nothing.

The tone is wry rather than despairing. Playful rhymes and homespun images, like the freckled country boy, give the complaint a lighthearted, folksy swing. Still, there's real anxiety underneath. The final stanza reveals his strategy: say nothing, let people believe what they believe, and rely on "good intention" to get through. His safety lasts only "one more day." The poem's title, "Respite," fits that fragile reprieve, a bit of breathing room bought by keeping up a front, and the humor is a way of coping with the strain.

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