All of these and more are here: <br />the mad and sad, the badly nurtured <br />those with a past, some without futures <br />all of these and more are here. <br /> <br />A health card gets you in at the door <br />wait two weeks, come back for more <br />apples potatoes sardines, tea <br />turnips squash and margarine. <br /> <br />All are welcome of whatever race <br />of any religion & any age <br />the working poor & poorest workers <br />dreamers and dolts as well as shirkers <br /> <br />all of these are here & more <br />none are turned away from the door <br /> <br />gaudily dressed in neo nylon <br />raggedy men in seventies rayon <br />the fat, the thin & the muscular <br />faces like bricks, faces peculiar <br /> <br />all appear at the food-bank's door <br />& hope they needn't come back for more <br /> <br />but chastened, hungry, sick to the core <br />wearing a smile as they try to ignore <br />the reasons they need to come back to the door <br />almost all come back for more <br /> <br />with few exceptions made to the rule <br />that bodies get hungry, flesh needs fuel <br /> <br />wise-man beggar-man bugger-man fool <br />almost all adhere to the rule <br />and so come back to the food bank door <br />two weeks later to play the fool <br /> <br />& none are turned away from this door <br />with a single exception: <br />closed at Yule.<br /><br />Brian Purdy<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/all-are-welcome-3/
