No Alms

All I asked was for alms,

To fill my belly one more day,

Hope for minimal survival weakening

And this is all there is.

Day after mind numbing day,

I sit here, passed by the

Healthy, strong and perfect,

Useful while I am useless.

I asked for no great

Thing, doubtful even of that,

As they stopped before me.

And sure enough, no alms;

Why do I drag myself

Here all for nothing, weak

Hope beating fainter, dying.

“No alms. But rise up,

And walk!” The impossible,

I would never ask for,

And yet it was given,

Mercy overcoming small dreams

And I began to walk.