Rogue Male Poem by Gert Strydom

I saw a man Saturday,
standing at a robot light
with a sign,
which stated that
as a handyman,
he could fix most things
and are willing to work
for food.

His eyes told their own story
and life tried to crucify him,
but nothing could
get him down

You might think
of him as just
another vagrant,
but in his eyes
there was something
deep and the expression
on his face
dug into my soul.

I thought that I knew him
from somewhere
and I learned
that as a engineer
he was stripped from work
by affirmative action
and not able to get a job
by the same racist law
and then remembered
him from the battle field,
where no enemy
could pin him down.

How sad a thing
to see a hero,
who’s country
made less than a zero;
in the name
of progress and prosperity.