Dignity

DIGNITY

The city centre’s decked up like a bride
And the air carries wafts of fat being fried
The Christmas trees decorating the shop windows
Promise wares that shoppers have never tried

People are rushing, shopping for more
A lot of them thronging the Apple store
But sitting across the street right in front,
My bedraggled state must be quite an eyesore

For I’m but a poor homeless creature
On a posh landscape, I’m an undesirable feature
Oh ! The indignity of a beggar’s life
You’d be surprised I was once a school teacher

But one monetary blunder and my life’s turned to dust
Did you ever hear of life being fair and just?
My lofty dreams have turned to dreams of survival
Now I dream of a job, spare cash, even of human trust

I queued up for a cleaner’s job in a restaurant here
The doorman treated me as if I were a buccaneer
The job would have been my Christmas present
But not for the first time, I found it disappear

Christmas Eve is here with weather so stern
The cold midnight air on the cheek does burn
As I try to sleep huddled by the street
To white wisps of  ice my breaths do turn

Down the street, I hear voices raised and muffled
I walk towards them, a little dazed and baffled
It’s the same doorman fighting some drunken youths
As he’s being pushed around and being ruffled

He didn’t grant my Christmas present, but I will assist
Stomach gets the kick and my jaws get the fist
Lights flash, a boom and a feeling of sharp pain
The bullet’s hit its mark, and everything’s turned to mist

Yet now is when I see things in full clarity
This Christmas, my present is some dignity for a little charity
Lived the life of a beggar, but I die the death of a soldier
What life wished for, death delivered with great alacrity !