Rough Sleeping

Nobody told me freedom was so cold, When I tore myself away From the uneventful warmth Of an ordinary family … Thrashing about me in my confusion. Wounding anyone who cared … The tears slashing my mother’s face Like razor blades … But I had to get away. Feel the wind of freedom … Feel the wind … I feel it now alright … Icy blasts, straight down the river. Eddying round the vast bulk Of city buildings. Over-warm … on the inside … But huddled here, on the outside … No real shelter in them … That cruel freedom wind Sifts through my thin clothes. I remember warm jumpers, And coats, abandoned In my anxiety To catch the wind. But I can’t go back Can I? … To that ordinary love Of my ordinary home. Not now I’ve felt the wind! But, you see, Nobody told me Freedom is so cold …