Choice Poem by Doug Holmes(UK)

You’ve often heard the story
As sang by Ralph McTell,
About the streets of London
And some people’s living hell.

But have you ever wondered
Or cared why they were there,
They all can tell a story
Of life that’s not been fair.

Some were rich and wise men
Who couldn’t take no more
Of life’s strange misdemeanours
That left them on the floor.

I was speaking to an old man
As he ate his soup and bread,
In the bowels of King’s Cross station
He married once he said.

A woman young, but dirty
After sleeping rough all night
Her face was gaunt, her eyes so dim
She looked a dreadful sight.

The city streets engulf them, but doesn’t stop the cold
The young, the lost, the lame, the sick,
and yes, the very old.
Why should they live like this I ask?
with questioning voice, I don’t know any answers, only.
“Did they have the choice.”