The air was frigid and the night grew colder

The homeless man had  found a crevice

The delivery ally of the Hyatt hotel

It was right along side of Grand Central station

The only place to sit and lay were with the rats in there domain

The animals who have remarkable intelligence knew of his plight

They snuggled up to the homeless man for warmth

One extremely large gray rodent seemed to be the dominate male

He cuddled up close and actually slept on the homeless man's chest

The homeless man petted the animal and called him big guy

The man stunk from not showering and his ragged clothing was putrid

But he had found his niche with the rats for they were now his only friends

He had for at least until early daylight found his sanctuary

This man was not a bum or a malinger he was just destitute 
He was a proud man, an ex Navy man who enlisted at seventeen

The Korean War had ended during his nine weeks of boot camp

The then boy wanted to go to war and give his life for his country

That of course never happened, instead only unfortunate things happened

After his tour of duty had expired he decided not to reenlist

He chose to make a statement on his own

Unfortunately that statement never materialized

He could not find work because his only experience was fire and crash crew fighting

So he drifted, he had no place to live or was not welcomed by any one

His only outlet was the streets, and now the rats

He shivered that night and his teeth chattered 

The rodents body heat was not enough

The homeless man died that night in the cold ally way

And became a large meal for his friends the rats

TONY MIKE NERONE

5-22-10