The Mendicant (from my Biblical novel, "Of Such Is The Kingdom")

 What kind of man the mendicant

      Who on the corner begs,

      Who has no decent clothes to wear,

      But sits in shreds and rags?

      Has he no pride, this human being,

      To lean on others so?

      What makes a man a mendicant?

      How can he stoop so low?

      What kind of man the mendicant?

      Look inward you who ask;

      For every man 's a mendicant

      Behind his haughty mask.

      What kind of men be they that pass

      A hundred times a day,

      And often never bother

      But go on their merry way?

      The doctor, and the lawyer,

      And the merchant, and the tailor,

      The tinker,

      And the sweeper,

      And the thinker

      And the sailor.

      Yes, all these and many more

      Do pass the beggar by

      Without a gift or word to say,

      Without a thought or sigh.

      A hundred million passing

      In a hundred houred day!