A tribute to Ralph McTell and in memory of Peter Avis Bury St Edmunds Jeweller Copyright © Victor Weston 2012

It is January it is cold it is winter
Ralph McTell sang
of those he would show us
who are on the streets with “no pride”
who would not wish
to have the searchlight of attention
turned on them

Do you know, are they still out there?
the old and the homeless
those who do not choose to be the recipients of others’
condescension or pity
who are no longer able to stand tall
but who neglect themselves
as they are unloved by others

having nothing left to do with their lives
they walk around purposeless
sitting or drifting from place to place;
what’s become of the dignity
of a golden old age
of a society where men chatted contentedly
on park benches in summer sunshine?

these solitary individuals
have lives now largely in the past
and are rich only in their memories
there are few who’d give them the time of day
but their eyes see whats happening, on the streets
There could be an interesting tale to tell
for any who would sit and share a coffee

before they too fall off the bough.