^ We The Unencumbered
Tattered misfits, we are called,
We ask not hate nor love;
Survival is our handbook
Stitched with suspicion's glove.
....We the unencumbered -
........We the homeless rove...
Nomads of an affluent age,
Life viewed from simple stance;
Lacking wage or praise of skill
We use what comes of chance.
....We the unencumbered -
........We the homeless stand...
Exiled by necessity,
We accept what has to be.
Yet beats a heart within us
That bleeds as others bleed.
....We the unencumbered -
........We the homeless need...
Pride we own, as fierce as yours,
And devotion to a creed:
The lux'ry of simplicity
Is what we ask and need.
....We the unencumbered -
........We the homeless plead...
That we your discards salvage,
For which you have no use,
Condemns us not as outright thieves,
Nor do we all abuse.
....We the unencumbered -
........We the homeless choose...
Not to offend your conscience
Do we offend your eyes,
Or creep beneath your city life,
Or sleep beneath your skies.
....We the unencumbered -
........We the homeless bide...
Dim beneath your high-rise flats;
Your costly tenements,
Where order and disorder meet
In churlish arguments,
....We the unencumbered -
........ We the homeless tent...
Relieved of rent or power bill,
No cable TV fee;
Allotted to the crumbs that fall,
We joy in what is free.
....We the unencumbered -
........We the homeless spree...
Drop-outs from affluency,
Who own naught but ourselves;
Senses dulled for want of tears,
Numb for want of cause.
....We the unencumbered -
........We the homeless pause...
Against the angry indigo
In the profile of a storm,
Amid our cardboard shanties
Where newsprint keeps us warm
....We the unencumbered -
........We the homeless scorn...
Palates trained in preference,
We forage as the beast.
Over-ripe, rejected scraps
Become the gleaner's feast.
....We the unencumbered -
........We the homeless fast...
Reclaimed costumes, dated, yet
Suited to a timeless style;
In beauty of sufficiency
Resplendent for a while.
....We the unencumbered -
........We the homeless smile...
Deprived of aspirations,
But to live as best we dare.
Ambition is, as we have seen,
But avarice of care.
....We the unencumbered -
........We the homeless share...
Poverty out-witted for -
History's pages do attest -
All humans are not fitted for
Civ'lization's callousness.
....We the unencumbered -
........We the homeless rest.
This should be set to music and sung by a chorus from a place that all could hear.
It resonates...plucks a string in me I visited earlier today..for a different reason but the heartache remains the same. Lovely work. Thank you for the invitation to read and for likewise reading mine. Write on!
Beautifully written... a testimony for the disenfranchised. Love the way the last line of each stanza links to the next.
Great, great uncompromising poems about life, Rated star rated A Thanks
there are slogans all over the place about restoring dignity to the underserved etc. In your poem you show so clearly that dignity was never lost; just the perception of it. This poem has real nobility and feeling and eloquence and power. As a lower income person myself quite often subject to scorn and labeling where it just doesn't apply, I felt deeply comforted by this poem and I am certain that others will too.
Very powerful statement regarding the reality of homelessness. You really get into the heart of those unencumbered with a lot of compassion and love. A terrific poem. Thank you very much for caring and sharing. Liilia
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
Hi Adeline, This is for me a tribute to the urchins of our city streets and should be rubbed under Rockelfeller's nose. I find it is a form of protest poetry, bold and enlivened with a spirit of rambunctiousness. I wrote a sarcastic piece you may like called For all the Lost Hippy's Wherever They May Be Thank you for reading my fantasy tidbit. I am almost a Canadian. I was born as you see on the tip of Quebec. All the best. Paul