Homeless

There’s a man I see almost every day; he’s got a black dog with a collar

It used to be could you spare a dime, now it’s could you spare a dollar

Sometimes I give, sometimes I don’t; depends what’s in my pocket

But he’s a man locked inside an invisible cage and my dollar won’t unlock it

There’s no future, there’s no joy;

he once was an adorable boy

Once he started to fall, he found no safe place to land

Walk right by that ghost of a man

It’s the crime I commit almost every day

It’s the violence of looking away

There’s a woman on my train who never asks for a thing but I can swear that she can see right through me

I’m not sure I believe in prior lives, but if I did I’d swear she knew me

But I’m on my phone, I’m on my own; I’m busy with my own worries

And what must she think as she rides back and forth of all these people and all their hurries

Homeless, dead to the world

She once was an adorable girl

Penniless, barely human

Walk right past that ugly woman

It’s the crime I commit almost every day

It’s the violence of looking away

(break)

And now I’m getting dressed up, seems a strange way to help

Filled with galas and with food drives

And I want to learn the name of the man and his dog

And understand the long story of their lives

But then I don’t, and it seems I wont, my best laid plans laid hollow

I’m not afraid to lend a hand or an ear, maybe I’m afraid of what might follow

There’s no future, there’s no joy;

he once was an adorable boy

Once he started to fall, he found no safe place to land

Walk right by that ghost of a man

Homeless, dead to the world

She once was an adorable girl

Penniless, barely human

Walk right past that ugly woman

But it doesn’t really matter what I say, it matters how I live

Am I really giving all that I’ve got to give

It’s the crime I commit almost every day

It’s the violence of looking away

It’s the crime I commit almost every day

It’s the violence of looking away