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Marilyn Clarke | + Follow Poet |
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Do Not Judge

You see a man in ragged clothes
Digging through garbage for no one knows
A skulking youth with acne’d face
Shuffling by with little grace

You see a woman, old and frail
A blind girl struggling, reading braille
You see an old guy soft and flabby
Looking sad and somewhat shabby

You see a lady smart and trim
Stepping briskly, with upheld chin
Two teenage girls in low ride jeans
Full of laughter, full of beans

You see a lad with wooden leg
Stopping people, there to beg
An obese woman, waddling there
While people stop and point and stare

You see a young child skipping past
If only youthfulness would last
A toddler wobbling as he walks
Babbling excitedly as he talks

You see a person all alone
Another talking on a phone
A couple walking in embrace
And soft warm smiles upon their face

You see a drunk man stumble by
With red veined nose and bloodshot eye
A woman with deep furrowed brow
Stooping in dejected bow

You see anguished deeply etched
Someone waiting to be fetched
Another talking shrill and loud
Another standing tall and proud

Yet no one sees what beats within
What lies down deep beneath the skin
And no one has the right to judge
Or criticize or hold a grudge

Or laugh at someone else’s pain
Or live you life in shallow vain
As no one’s truly, fully whole
And every one has depth of soul

And what you see may not be real
But if you can touch and truly feel
And listen well to what they say
And share with them this special day
 
If you can hear them from the heart
And bring about a brand new start
Then this would be a better life
With much less pain and much less strife

Copyright © Marilyn Clarke | Year Posted 2006

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