The cats march on to the backyard <br />Of my house and leave their kitten, <br />taking it for a safe haven. <br /> <br />When I come upon a dog <br />lying beside the walls of the school, <br />with its pups rolling over it, <br />I buy biscuits from a shop <br />and feed them with grace. <br /> <br />When the rats pluck up courage <br />to hold jamborees in the porch, <br />I don’t beat them or drive them out <br />fearing to be infected with rat-fever. <br />But I put coleslaw for them to eat. <br /> <br />When little lamps jump into my office room, <br />and let down their balls of dung, <br />I smile, lift them up and give them <br />to the girls of lower classes. <br /> <br />When I see beggars lame or blind, <br />I touch the coins in my pocket <br />but hesitate to give them; <br />as most of them tell tales of lies. <br />They get freebies from the Government <br />yet their list swells in trains and public places. <br /> <br />Some who run private homes to orphans <br />send the inmates to beg in streets <br />But they beg from cinestars and the rich <br />with a printed receipt book in hand. <br />The old ones plead starvation <br />and go on cheating pliable public. <br />Some ladies and the differently -abled <br />roam to beg with letters in trains and buses. <br />Some criminals appeal for alms with appalling faces. <br />Terrorists too beg from the rich and cinestars <br />and demand donations without giving receipts. <br />Fake sages and seers receive funds from abroad <br />to frustrate the addicts from drugs <br />and the men and women garbless to meditate in halls. <br /> <br />When the beggars blockmail me <br />and curse me to have a dog’s life, <br />how can I purse my lips and refuse alms? <br /> ----------<br /><br />rajendran muthiah<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/beggarliness/
