A Poor Man Poem by Shalom Freedman

A POOR MAN


A poor man is limited
A poor man cannot fully provide for others
A poor man cannot meet the material needs
Of those he loves
A poor man contracts life
A poor man worries too much
A poor man is afraid of being even poorer
A poor man does not have
And cannot give
A poor man lives in perpetual desperate hope
For some surprising miracle
A poor man prays
And is made rich in praying
A poor man in money
Is not always poor in spirit
A poor man may be humble
A poor man is often humiliated
A poor man is easily abused
A poor man is told to do by others
What he would never tell anyone else to do
A poor man has few options in most thing
A poor man is more like a slave than most others
A poor man is some ways dead
A poor man may want to work his way out
And find this impossible
A poor man is ashamed of being poor
A poor man may be a burden on others
A poor man may be an old and tired man
Who sometimes wishes it were all over
A poor man may be an old man who is done with everything
Except his suffering-