deepundergroundpoetry.com
Shame in Times Square
The child beggar's eyes
still stare at me
beyond the plate of ham and eggs
and Sunday's papers
I had no more coin
only one last small banana
not even ripe
which she slipped expertly
beneath her too big billowy dress
lest it vanish to another mouth
amongst that throng
of raggedness
Dirty tear stains etched for life
faces frantically seeking a lost childhood
leave zero appetite
for the neat and tidy smugness
of shallow western ways
And in a world apart
where the white glove of a hero
makes fortunes at auction
its famous fingers tweak
the stranglehold on my heart
still stare at me
beyond the plate of ham and eggs
and Sunday's papers
I had no more coin
only one last small banana
not even ripe
which she slipped expertly
beneath her too big billowy dress
lest it vanish to another mouth
amongst that throng
of raggedness
Dirty tear stains etched for life
faces frantically seeking a lost childhood
leave zero appetite
for the neat and tidy smugness
of shallow western ways
And in a world apart
where the white glove of a hero
makes fortunes at auction
its famous fingers tweak
the stranglehold on my heart
Published 22nd Nov 2009
| Edited 18th Jul 2012
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Anonymous
22nd Nov 2009 1:33pm
what you are speaking about here.I have experienced the same choking feeling,the first time I went to Calcutta and was surrounded by hordes of children, more than u can count,most of them having the shoeshine kit tucked under their arms,children without childhood is a scene u can easily forget.very sound words.I too have written something in these lines.thank u.
Anonymous
22nd Nov 2009 1:49pm
oops sorry i meant u CANT forget.
Anonymous
22nd Nov 2009 1:47pm
Such a wonderful piece. So emotive and... just wonderful! The way the character of the little girl slips that small bannana inside her dress before anyone else can take it is just heartbreaking.
22nd Nov 2009 4:23pm
Thanks Jack - this came after I read the story about Michael Jackson's clothes today which provoked a kind of fury in me about the way we live here - so much so that I forgot to save the first draught and thought I'd lost it forever! Luckily I could remember.
22nd Nov 2009 6:08pm
