I've felt the cold ground beneath me
slept under the stars in unfamiliar places
-slept in places where for some reason
the law says we are not allowed sleep
no laying down on the earth
you must have a house somewhere or
you are a vagrant.
I've climbed on a freight train
and walked in the heat of the sun..
I've eaten food out of dumpsters
and gone to free food lines
but I cannot pretend that I truly
know the feeling of homelessness.
Because I did most of this out of choice
or I did it all out of choice.
Because i didn't figure out how to do something else
or refused to accept the belief
that I have to have a forty hour a week job.
Because I wanted to test myself, to feel like
I could.
Because I detest being soft and unable to adapt
-to survive.
Because I can't stand the idea that perfectly good
food goes to waste in a dumpster
Because I think that food should be free.
Because I want to feel at home wherever I am.
I want to be capable of anything.
I have felt hunger and hated it
but I think perhaps it has made me less greedy
and more flexible.
My little glimpse into homeless life
has made me more aware of how much I have wasted.
Of how much I have judged.
And while I don't want to be a homeless wanderer,
I want to be flexible - I want not to judge
I want to be able to appreciate people
without caring if they have dirt on their face
or wear the same clothes day after day.
I want to be able to just look in any person's eyes
and see that they are not so different than me.
(5 March,2009)
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
It is a situation of poverty one is not having a home or sufficient food to eat and the suffering made him respecting food and other values of human being. A nice poem and socially relevant.I have felt hunger and hated it the poet writes which is an expression of sadness of poverty beautifully written in lines.