Loading...

Poor Man

There he sits
Begging for money on a dirty sidewalk bench
Holding a bag of quarters
He’s saving up to buy some Jack Daniels
“Can you spare some change?” he asks the man passing  by
“No, get a job you bum”
The poor man seems unphased, as he asks a lady
“Spare some change m’am?”
She rolls her eyes, “Why, you’ll just buy liquor with it”
She storms off, head held high
The poor man hangs his head, trying not to feel ashamed
Who is to blame for this suffering, but me
He thinks to himself
Where did I wrong in his life?
Now wrought with misery and strife
 
Noone can see the pain in his blue eyes
Of course he wants to get drunk
What can you lose when you have nothing
A kid walks by and notices the man
“Hey mister, want a quarter?”
The poor man reaches out his hand to take the quarter
He hesitates
Then he folds his arms and looks at the boy
“No, you use that to buy some bubble gum or somethin boy”
The boy seems confused, “I thought you needed money”
The man replies “I’ll only waste it on unnecessary things”
The boy lays the quarter on his lap
“Don’t matter” the boy says, “Gum is not a necessity”
The poor man smiles and takes the quarter
 
Under a bridge somewhere in San Francisco
The poor man sits next to a flaming barrel
Jack Daniels in hand
The only friend this poor man has
Is a drip of poison to kill his past
He thinks about his life and how he can fix it
He turns to his friends
“Guys, I think I’m gonna turn my life around.. get out of this mess”
They snicker at his comment, knowing full well how many times he’s said that
“No really, I heard something today that made me realize something”
“A boy gives me a quarter after I refused, and told me bubble gum was just as unnecessary as liquor”
“Well he was right, god damnit” harked a buddy.
“Right he was, and I’ve decided I’m gonna do what makes me happy instead of moping around slums.”
“And what would that be”
“I’m going to get a job as a waiter and work my way up the ladder boys”
“I’ll have so much money, you’ll all want to be my friends even more”
They laugh again
Realizing the poor man is rambling as is his typical behaviour when drinking
“I shit you not” he exclaims and lays down to sleep
 
The next day he awakes to find his friends have scattered
Probably to beg on the sidewalks another day
The bottle of Jack Daniels is empty
He can hear the water passing by
He sees the morning sun reflecting its love light onto the water
Today is a new day, he thinks
He gets up and walks to the nearest restaurant
“Excuse me, can I work here?”
He wasn’t sure how to pose the question
“No, sorry we don’t hire bums”
The man sighs as he walks out
He heads out into the city to continue his search
He spends all day and night but to no avail
“No-one in this city gives a damn
I hope they rot in hell”
His mood has changed
Life will probably remain the same
 
Some hours later he is sitting on a bench on some dirty sidewalk
The boy he met two days ago sees him and says,
“Hey old man, want a quarter?”
The poor man says “Yes, please”
The mother of the boy snatches the quarter before it leaves the boys hand
“What did I tell you Christopher, we don’t give money to strangers”
The woman looks down on the man, scoffs and leads the boy off like he’s a dog
The man’s eyes fill with sadness
He has lost all hope
He spends the rest of his money on dope
And returns to sit near the flaming barrels under the bridge
 
This night his friends are off on some city mission
He puffs on a cigarette he rolled with old cigarette butts
He stares at the tattoo of a lady he once knew on his arm
A tear forms in his eye
“Today will be the day that I die”
He grabs the pistol from his old worn, green jacket
And holds it to his head
The shot can be heard for miles
But nobody gives a damn
There under the bridge, the poor man lay dead

Liked or faved by...
Other works by Cordell Carrier...



Top