Homeless Veterans

We see them sleeping in the alleys
Cardboard boxes are their homes
Dirty faces, hands and bodies
Upon their backs, tattered clothes are worn.
Help shelters are forbidden fruit
For they hold thieves and liars
Taking all that you possess
And more, if they so desire.
So on the streets the solemn trod
As they try to find themselves
They got lost somewhere upon
The government's top shelves..
They fought the wars, on foreign land
As freedom's eagles soared
But then we spat on their return
And they questioned what they had fought for.
These proud few, who we had sent
To fight, we have lost track
They've fallen hard into the dark
And got lost in the cracks.
Don't think they don't remember
Or notice when you turn away
Because they see your shudder
When you pass them every day.
You'll smile as your step quickens
You'll throw some change sometimes
But have you ever thought of them
Or is the pittance just to ease your mind.