To My Shame
As he approached me,
I pretended not to see him
He was very thin,
a shell of a man
Had snot running out his nose
Wore raggedy rain showered,
sun dried clothes
His body bear the stench
of places God only knows
And as we passed each other,
I averted my eyes
Cowardly, I didn't want to see
the abject sadness in his eyes
To my shame,
I offered not even a polite hello ...
nothing personal to acknowledge his existence
To my shame,
I wondered not what was his name
Didn't want to come in contact
with his pain
This frail man wore a wrinkled face
of a thousand slights
He had sunken, hollow eyes:
haunting optical illusions
of countless lonesome nights
No doubt, he slept in places
where many unrealized hopes had died
Abandoned dreams ... empty houses
on a desolated street of discarded destinies
To my shame,
I extended no small kindness
to alleviate his personal pain
I was sore afraid
that I was looking at my future self,
and someone else
was treating me the same
Copyright © Freddie Robinson Jr. | Year Posted 2017
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