The Shopping Cart Lady

She walks towards me, pushing everything she owns
In a shopping cart with wobbly wheels
Her entire life stuffed into a four wheeled basket
The well dressed ignore her, she doesn't exist

And even though she's not asking for money
I give her all of my change, a dollar or more
Buy yourself something to eat I tell her
I will, she smiles with missing teeth

I see her, sometimes more than once a day
And I wonder what brought her to this
I doubt I'd be able to survive like her
If her misfortune also became mine

Sometimes when I see her I want to ask
What happened that you ended up this way?
I don't and not just because of the fear
That the same thing could happen to me

So I just mind my own business
And give her some money when I can
Knowing that one day she will disaappear
Her shopping cart taken over by another

Homeless, she still smiles and laughs
Never have I seen her sad or crying
Does she save her tears for midnight
When nobody would be there to see

poem by Harry J. Couchon Jr
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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