^ We The Unencumbered Poem by Adeline Foster

^ We The Unencumbered

Rating: 5.0


^ We The Unencumbered

Tattered misfits, we are called,
We ask not hate nor love;
Survival is our handbook
Stitched with suspicion's glove.
....We the unencumbered -
........We the homeless rove...

Nomads of an affluent age,
Life viewed from simple stance;
Lacking wage or praise of skill
We use what comes of chance.
....We the unencumbered -
........We the homeless stand...

Exiled by necessity,
We accept what has to be.
Yet beats a heart within us
That bleeds as others bleed.
....We the unencumbered -
........We the homeless need...

Pride we own, as fierce as yours,
And devotion to a creed:
The lux'ry of simplicity
Is what we ask and need.
....We the unencumbered -
........We the homeless plead...

That we your discards salvage,
For which you have no use,
Condemns us not as outright thieves,
Nor do we all abuse.
....We the unencumbered -
........We the homeless choose...

Not to offend your conscience
Do we offend your eyes,
Or creep beneath your city life,
Or sleep beneath your skies.
....We the unencumbered -
........We the homeless bide...

Dim beneath your high-rise flats;
Your costly tenements,
Where order and disorder meet
In churlish arguments,
....We the unencumbered -
........ We the homeless tent...

Relieved of rent or power bill,
No cable TV fee;
Allotted to the crumbs that fall,
We joy in what is free.
....We the unencumbered -
........We the homeless spree...

Drop-outs from affluency,
Who own naught but ourselves;
Senses dulled for want of tears,
Numb for want of cause.
....We the unencumbered -
........We the homeless pause...

Against the angry indigo
In the profile of a storm,
Amid our cardboard shanties
Where newsprint keeps us warm
....We the unencumbered -
........We the homeless scorn...

Palates trained in preference,
We forage as the beast.
Over-ripe, rejected scraps
Become the gleaner's feast.
....We the unencumbered -
........We the homeless fast...

Reclaimed costumes, dated, yet
Suited to a timeless style;
In beauty of sufficiency
Resplendent for a while.
....We the unencumbered -
........We the homeless smile...

Deprived of aspirations,
But to live as best we dare.
Ambition is, as we have seen,
But avarice of care.
....We the unencumbered -
........We the homeless share...

Poverty out-witted for -
History's pages do attest -
All humans are not fitted for
Civ'lization's callousness.
....We the unencumbered -
........We the homeless rest.

Saturday, December 27, 2008
Topic(s) of this poem: poem,homelessness
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Paul Amrod 21 July 2015

Hi Adeline, This is for me a tribute to the urchins of our city streets and should be rubbed under Rockelfeller's nose. I find it is a form of protest poetry, bold and enlivened with a spirit of rambunctiousness. I wrote a sarcastic piece you may like called For all the Lost Hippy's Wherever They May Be Thank you for reading my fantasy tidbit. I am almost a Canadian. I was born as you see on the tip of Quebec. All the best. Paul

2 0 Reply
Terry O'leary 15 May 2013

Super Poem... 'unencunbrance' can lead to doom... Terry

1 1 Reply
Thyris Taylor 21 May 2015

This should be set to music and sung by a chorus from a place that all could hear.

2 0 Reply
Ann Mckeeman 15 July 2015

It resonates...plucks a string in me I visited earlier today..for a different reason but the heartache remains the same. Lovely work. Thank you for the invitation to read and for likewise reading mine. Write on!

1 0 Reply
Valerie Hutchinson-morgan 08 August 2014

Beautifully written... a testimony for the disenfranchised. Love the way the last line of each stanza links to the next.

1 0 Reply
Benjamin Uy 19 November 2018

Great, great uncompromising poems about life, Rated star rated A Thanks

0 0 Reply
Edward Kofi Louis 08 September 2016

Survival is our handbook! Thanks for sharing.

0 0 Reply
Mary Douglas 23 July 2016

there are slogans all over the place about restoring dignity to the underserved etc. In your poem you show so clearly that dignity was never lost; just the perception of it. This poem has real nobility and feeling and eloquence and power. As a lower income person myself quite often subject to scorn and labeling where it just doesn't apply, I felt deeply comforted by this poem and I am certain that others will too.

0 0 Reply
Liilia Morrison 06 July 2016

Very powerful statement regarding the reality of homelessness. You really get into the heart of those unencumbered with a lot of compassion and love. A terrific poem. Thank you very much for caring and sharing. Liilia

0 0 Reply
Leah Ross 22 April 2016

a very profound write speaks to the world the problems we have

0 0 Reply
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Adeline Foster

Adeline Foster

Instructor of poetry, Hagerstown, MD
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