Plaça De Santa Maria Poem by Roger Clark

Today's pilgrims carry maps,
Wear shorts & tattoos,
Looking for
The meaning of why they are here;
While high above
Swifts squeal & swoop,
Only mildly concerned
At the prowling kestrel
Or the jackdaws
In the mediaeval towers;
On the steps
Of Santa Maria del Mar
A timeless beggar
Has been waiting 600 years
For the guilty alms
Of the pilgrims in shorts
And tattoos;
Her Macdonald's paper cup,
A nod to 2012;
Does she know recession too?
The gothic bells strike noon
And the pilgrims
(In their shorts & tattoos)
Hurry out of the sacred gloom,
Puzzled at the blinding sun,
Squinting at their maps,
Trying not to see
The paper cup.