Cloaked in the smog of unworthiness
Layers of disapproval and disgust hide me
A presence disregarded

Composition of wasted life
Betrayed by calloused hands and parched lips
Always grasping, never quenched

Brows furrowed under the constant heat
Wearing veils of tragedy and unforgiveness
Judged with abandon by nature and nurture

Nested crown absent of glory
Carrying a hidden story no one wants to read
Sights go through me

Deemed purposeless pauper of poverty
Labeled by ignorance
Looking out, but no one’s looking in

Existence in full wretchedness
Clung to by default
Still, begging for survival

Stock in tow
Never knowing who will be willing
To buy a piece of my dignity

Spare change for my belly
Spare smile for my soul
Anything to live on…

Warm eyes leave me
Sufficiently undisturbed
Being radically affected by the unaffected

Intent on living one more day
Spiting fate’s disdain for my humanity
Indignity falls with dusk

Starry arms come courting
Darkness whispers charms in night
Exposure reveals those lies

Insanity spies
Embracing disparate vanity
Defining this universal sentence of outcast

Dawn breaks…
With it, my heart
Readied for another day’s portion

Shell resurfaces
Wading society’s gutter
Waiting to be seen in my reflection

I am the perpetual answer to God’s question
Existing among the least of these…
Who will choose to see me?