A CHILD'S FATE

ghostly,
uncanny,
he crawled,
toward,
the shelter he craved

another day passed,
he lay,
holding the scrap,
a day’s pay

victorious,
he earned a night’s sleep,
earned a look from the stars,
their peaceful glare

he knew not,
where his doom lay,
but he valued his fate,
valued,
but didn’t heed

yet,
he Struggled,
to survive,
snuggled close,
to the warmth of solitude

he lay,
an empty soul,
devoid of his sanity,
by the passing crowd
he lay there,
unobserved,
a mere,
ghost