For many years, she walked the streets <br />and her body she sold. <br />It was a living, she said, <br />but deep within her, <br />there was a heart of gold. <br />The story goes they called her <br />the Madonna of the streets. <br />If anyone needed help, <br />her outstretched hand was always there. <br />She rescued many young souls <br />from the streets of despair. <br />Her neighbours turned their nose up <br />at her living ways, <br />but took a long second look <br />the day the lord took her away. <br /> <br />A child was playing in the road, <br />the car they did not see, <br />but this woman of the night <br />saw what was happening there. <br />There was a screech of brakes, <br />a child screaming for his mum, <br />and a twisted broken body <br />underneath the wheels of the car. <br />When the crowds began to gather, <br />the tragedy became very clear. <br />The girl had been passing, <br />saw what was happening there, <br />had sacrificed her own life <br />for that child fair. <br /> <br />The neighbours, <br />who had shunned her, <br />now began to weep openly <br />for that loathsome girl <br />that lived down the street, <br />and whose friends had nicknamed her, <br />the Madonna of the streets. <br />Many learned a lesson <br />on that fateful day. <br />That was not to judge to harshly <br />those they do not really know. <br /> <br /> <br />(1 July 2007)<br /><br />David Harris<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/madonna-of-the-streets/
