STREET FOLK



The street folk die in winter
Living outside in the cold,
Dreamers whose last dream has died
Their poor lives are put on hold.

A blanket is in the bushes
Where a starving human lies,
In Fisher Street’s small alleyway
A lonely person dies.

Using rocks for pillows
The street folk sleep outside,
When the frigid winter wind howls
They’ve got no place left to hide.

We nestle down in winter
With radiators at our feet,
We never feel the cold’s cruel bite
Contented in the heat.

But outside now in Footscray’s streets
The lonely do it rough,
The street folk die in winter
When their bodies say, “Enough!”

We do not try to help them
But we say it’s such a shame,
Rugged up inside against the cold
We know not who’s to blame.

Street people hope for better times
But their better times are done,
They freeze outside on winter nights
Dead before the daylight comes.

THE END
© Copyright 2021 Philip Roberts
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

About this poem

The government doesn't care about the plight of street people, so I have to fight their battles with my keyboard.

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Written on July 13, 2008

Submitted by PHIL_ROBERTS on July 14, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

50 sec read
3

Quick analysis:

Scheme Abcb xdxd xcxc aexe xfAf xgbg xxxx xxx
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 915
Words 169
Stanzas 8
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 3

Phil Roberts

I turn 65 on the 31st of January 2022. I love cats, rock music, and horror fiction and poetry more…

All Phil Roberts poems | Phil Roberts Books

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