My Cardboard Sign
My cardboard sign carves out
a tiny piece of footpath to call home.
My cardboard sign shamefully declares me
“homeless” and I look down a t my meagre possessions
as you stride past, reading but not caring.
My cardboard sign is a cry for help ignored
Or a target for your few spare coins.
My cardboard sign is my flag of defeat
by loss, desertion, accident, illness or
a hundred other things you know nothing of.
My cardboard sign says I don’t know
where I’ll sleep tonight, I’m hungry
and I definitely could do with a shower.
My cardboard sign says I’m new on the streets
and I’m scared and alone.
My cardboard sign says I’m likely to die
much younger than you or yours.
And if you read between the lines
my cardboard sign declares
your failure as much as mine.
Peter Cartwright
February 2015
(2015)
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