Murdered Dream

This is just a poem that I put together for a project in my American Literature class. I re-wrote the sixth chapter of Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck as a poem.

The Salinas River,
whose waters seem a deep green,
remained still that afternoon.
The trees dipped and waved
as a harsh gust of wind came through.
Lennie came from the bushes,
as quiet as a mouse,
to drink from the water.
Then he sat and waited;
"Hide in the brush
an' wait for George."
An old woman appeared,
slightly plump and
wearing an apron.
She frowned down at Lennie
hands on her hips.
She did not approve.

She spoke to Lennie
her voice his own
and he replied.
"I tried, Aunt Clara...
I tried and tried."
She told him to think of George
and that he had never given him a thought.
She said that without Lennie
George may have been better off.
Lennie agreed, disheartened,
and said he'd go away.
The woman did not believe him,
told him he'd just stay and bother George,
and Lennie worried about the rabbits.
The woman was gone, replaced
by a rabbit!

The rabbit spoke to Lennie
its voice his own
telling him he wasn't fit
"to lick the boots of
no rabbit."
"You'd forget 'em and
let 'em go hungry."
Lennie disagreed.
The rabbit continued
his mocking
telling Lennie he wasn't good enough
and said George would agree.
He said George would leave
and leave Lennie behind
and Lennie was scared.
He didn't think George would
leave him but he
was scared anyway.

Suddenly, George came
pushing the rabbit back
into poor Lennie's brain.
Lennie expressed his fears of George leaving
and was relieved when George
said he'd do nothing of the sort.
Lennie told him he'd messed up again;
George didn't seem to care.
Lennie was confused
when George didn't
"give him hell"
so George did just that.
But he didn't give him much.
Lennie said he could go away,
but George wanted him to stay.

They had the talk they've had
a million times before
how they both have each other
and couldn't ask for more.
The wind blew again
rustling the trees
and the shouts of men
drifted to them on the breeze.
George began to tell Lennie
how it all would be.
When Lennie looked away,
George brought out his gun,
telling the story slowly.

As he continued his story
of how it all would be
he looked down at his gun
then raised and steadied it.
One pull of the trigger
and the lifeless body slumped forward.
George sat still again
looking down at Lennie.
The men came to the clearing
congratulated George
and, helping him up,
they led George away.

I guess his story of
how it all would be,
of the place, the cow, the rabbits,
was little more than
poor Lennie's murdered dream.

Author's Note

I know some parts aren't very poetic, but it was the best I could do with the chapter I chose. Regardless of the mistakes (in rhythm and such), I hope you enjoyed reading this.