William H.A. Willbond MSM, CD

MAN WITH A CANE SITTING OUT IN THE RAIN

His cap is outstretched, as he begs hard for loose change.
Drops splash off of his forehead as he’s soaked by the rain.
Some of our soul wounded old soldiers do not want to talk
But he will take a DVA cane, which really helps him to walk.

The cold wet cement is hard, on bleeding piles on the bum.
He’ll require medical treatment in some future day to come.
Vancouver is a great place to live – it’s a new condo city.
But for mind-suffering old soldiers, there is really no pity.

He needs a haircut and a shave. He needs a full body bath.
He needs human compassion as he suffers winter’s wrath.
Shell shock, OSI, PTSD, mental disease, it won’t set him free.
Sitting he smells of drunk-tank cells – He could be you or me?

Our wealthy environment, our money filled, big city streets.
Where the rich walk on by, carrying home their bought treats
They cast downward their eyes and they briskly march by,
Avoiding a poor fellow human being, sitting there in defeat.

Author’s Note: The above poem is inspired by the photography of John Ward Leighton. John is an award winning Canadian Photographer, ex soldier, ex paratrooper and retired Crypto Spook from the Royal Canadian Signals Corps.