Dec 2012
Eyes glazed with misery,
Sitting in the filth of a subway station.
Grey face
In a mud-brown cloth bundle on the gritty floor.
Propped up against the tiled wall like a ragdoll,
Features made harsh by the fluorescent lights.
You don't stop, won't even look.
No one does.
A lost cause, an old drunk, an addict and a wreck.
Easy to tell yourself it's just not worth your time,
To assume she put herself there.
Those glazed eyes watch the passers-by scorn the grey ***** failure
Crumpled on the side of things, with all the other litter.
Ragged napkins tossed aside,
Cigarette butts staining the floor,
Discarded plastic bags that float like ghosts when the trains pass and lend them life for a moment.
These are her kin, her companions.
The only things that take any heed of her.
Sitting in the filth of a subway station.
Grey face
In a mud-brown cloth bundle on the gritty floor.
Propped up against the tiled wall like a ragdoll,
Features made harsh by the fluorescent lights.
You don't stop, won't even look.
No one does.
A lost cause, an old drunk, an addict and a wreck.
Easy to tell yourself it's just not worth your time,
To assume she put herself there.
Those glazed eyes watch the passers-by scorn the grey ***** failure
Crumpled on the side of things, with all the other litter.
Ragged napkins tossed aside,
Cigarette butts staining the floor,
Discarded plastic bags that float like ghosts when the trains pass and lend them life for a moment.
These are her kin, her companions.
The only things that take any heed of her.
I always give money to homeless people I see. The point is showing them that you care, that you see them. I make sure I hand them the money instead of tossing it at them, and meet their eyes. It's about recognizing and communicating that you know you could be in the very same place so easily, because we all could...
