The Beggar

There are so many homeless people in San Diego that you see them practically everywhere you go. The Beggar is a poem that came to me without warning. When I finished it, I recited it to Janice (my ever faithful critic). As I spoke the last words, I realized that tears had filled my eyes. Janice was touched, and so was I. I hope you enjoy it.

The Beggar

The beggar roamed the streets each day
In search of warmth and food
With little hope of overcoming
Fear and solitude

He faced the world as most could not
His failures all revealed
Never knowing what tomorrow’s
Scavenging might yield

“Why has God forsaken me?”
He questioned every night
“I’ve not done a single deed
Deserving such a plight”

He had served his country
And was injured in the fray
The doctors took the bullets
But the pain remained each day

Nothing now made sense to him
He lived with such confusion
When he begged he knew that people
Cringed at his intrusions

Then he fell asleep one night
When all his hopes were drained
And Jesus reached into his dreams
And took away his pain

Cautiously he then awoke
Not sure he could believe
But to his meek astonishment
His pain was now relieved

With newly felt encouragement
And body feeling strange
He stood and looked around him
But everything had changed

Everything his eyes took in
Brought overwhelming bliss
Nothing that he ever dreamed
Had ever felt like this

Suddenly his heart stood still
It came to him just then
He was free of earthly things
He’d never beg again


Steven Pein
10 May 2010
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