A Beggar I Never Met Poem by Baru Gobira

A face with a nose rubbing the car window
A gesture accompanied by a futile plea
Pressed against glass and beseeched by one
Who may be accused of withdrawal symptoms
A dreg of humanity hanging lost outside
Another human fallen by the wayside
Begging we think for a drink
Was it so?
I don’t know
I thought he was beyond all feelings, all norms
He was not bothered of what I think
He was not bothered about this world or that beyond
Betrayed, weak and insolent
His god had died a long time ago
The shell hadn’t given up
It carried him to another window
Pocketing loose change
Strange the unseeing eyes were lost I think
Suddenly the traffic lights changed
For the better or worse I don’t know.

July 2010