Rise and Fall… by Jessie 7/06

Indigent and barefoot, walking down the street
Sidewalks hot
Head hung low
Savings all deplete
Hungry from not eating; unshaven and unkempt
Tattered clothes
Need a bath
Hair below his neck
Nails framed by blackened dirt, digging through the trash
Find a meal
Fight the flies
Intermittent memories
Flashing from his past
Once a man of dignity, an executive at his firm
Grand existence
Had it all
Until the tables turned
Hair thin line from there to here
Separates us all
Higher up you rise
Farther down you fall