, Kids On Street Poem by Louise Tredoux

I’m listening to the song, “Fool, you
didn’t have to hurt her, fool, you only
had to love her…” and I’m crying, al-
so cried yesterday when McCartney
sang “Hey Jude, don’t make it bad,
take a sad song and make it better…”

When I complained to Rudi about the
collection request and how I got sucked
in, he had no sympathy, calling me a
simpleton for not resisting the attempt
to suck me into Ladies Aid, I felt so hurt
and rejected, he said I should learn how

To say NO in the right tone of voice, like
a majestic matron, why couldn’t he have
masked his disdain, even false empathy
would have helped, I feel doubly bad –
for my being such an unsupportive col-
lector, incompetent in the extreme

And for the orphanage kids who will be
on street unless we succeed… “Fool,
you didn’t have to hurt her, fool, you
only had to love her…”