An Old Tramp

by Christopher Peake

When you meet a tramp in your local street
Look at him. Give him a cheerful smile.
It's a small memory he can keep for a while.
When your meal's ready upon your plate
Pray for the tramp passing your gate.
He may be a man you met in your past
Recalling days that went by too fast.
Your dishes are washed. You're drinking tea.
The road is frosty.
He fell and cut his knee.
Snow is falling.
You're in a warm bed.
Asleep on a bench, there is snow on his head.
Rising in the morning, you see the snow
And his footprints on the road below
Indoors it is warm, outside it is cold
His stout stick is icy and hard to hold
He wanders around with nowhere to go.
People rush past. His pace is slow.
His life is full of aches and pains
And memories of girls in leafy lanes

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