Beggar's Plight Poem by Walterrean Salley

The beggar's hands (worn and rugged)
Are marked by years of life's cruel walk—
Cracked and dirty with scares to don.
Relentlessly— poverty stalks.

There's something in the beggar's eye
That none can neither know nor tell,
But only he who has been there.
Such path the beggar knows quite well.

His feet are wrought with calluses.
He hasn't the proper shoes to wear;
The soles are worn and holes bedazzle.
No food nor home, but priceless tears.
Deep in his eyes—no hope but fear.
He knows only pain and despair.

(2014 revised version)