Poetry Magazines - The best collection of poetry magazines online - Simon Armitage

People passing down the street
Hardly a glance at me-
I must be truly invisible
I wonder what they see

Perhaps a scruffy, dirty thing
An embarrassing sight to see:
My tattered jeans, unshaven face
Perhaps, I’m their ‘enemy’.

I was like them in every way
Each and every one:
I had a family, loving wife,
A daughter and a son.

I had everything a man could need.
More than I ever knew.
Then things go wrong in life it seems,
It could happen to you.

Such things I cannot mention.
The pain is still so bad:
But this I know, it’s gone for good.
It is all so very sad.

I have no wife, no loving home
My children are gone forever.
Will I ever see them again?
The answer is, “No – never”.

I came to London long ago
To ‘The Streets Paved In Gold,’
But I’ve never found my fortune.
Just a lie that is so old.

I have no life, no welcoming home,
No money for bread and butter.
There is no love in this city -
Compassion has drowned in the gutter.

But someone walks towards me
From out of the bustling crowd
Of commuters with blank faces
So distant, uncaring and proud.

He sees my anguish, sorrow and pain
As if he knows my story.
‘God bless you,’ he says,
‘take care of yourself,’
Then offers his hand so kindly.

We look into each other’s eyes
For once I feel my health
Has returned to my body at last.
He has given me back my ‘self’.

I just have time to thank this man
As he vanishes into the crowd
Of bustling people on way to work
Those too uncaring and proud.

‘Thank you,’ I whisper again and again
You have helped me, more than you know.
I will never forget what you said to me
To a man who has sunk so low.

I hope my spirit will strengthen
As my life has been touched by good.
In a world so distant and selfish
These words are the finest food.