Please allow my indulgence this week, I have just returned from a weekend in Aberdeen and was struck once again by the plight of the homeless, to this end I have chosen a poem from our resident Poet Paul Colvin, I’d like to say enjoy but somehow that seems crude so instead I shall invite you to perhaps read and reflect.
I was You.
No bed, no blanket, no TV, no home
An army of people but where are they from?
They’re treated like vermin and they take what they can
Pleading for comfort, is my fellow man,
Born to be equal he lies on the street,
On a shaggy old blanket, a flea bitten sheet
Unwashed and unshaved from morning to night
The world passes by, all ignoring his plight,
He’s a right to be equal, a first among men
I see him each morning, again and again
His pitiful face weathered by summer’s sun
His lullaby’s whisky, God, what have we done?
Someone must know him, I ask him his name
His eyes look right through me then close down with shame
I’m the man who was you, a long time ago
Look into your heart, you already know.
I’m your brother, your father, yes even your son
As you fought their battles, they’d already won
And when you’ve delivered they’ll cast you aside
Don’t worry for me,
I’ve already died.
Paul Colvin 18 June 2016