​Another snowflake falls on my face.
The weather has changed fast again.
Seems like yesterday that the leaves were changing.
Barely ready for this though the old bones warned me
that the season's change was coming soon.
 
Keeping the body warm walking during the day.
Thankfully the boots are not too worn out.
Hand-me-downs from a hidden friend.
Same with my toque and coat.
I will never know who gave them.
Our neighbour from the community kitchen
brought them to our tents.
 
there are at least seven tents
lined in the semi-alley at all times.
Many others appear and disappear.
Those ones are not from here, travelers.
 
We are the ones here day-in, day-out.
Trying to winterize our little tents
with blankets found around the city.
A few here will take just to stay warm.
I Always think i will get caught
so I stay out collecting monies
to get cheap ones that barely cover me.
 
Getting spare change is hard.
Most times people walk by
with their heads turned the over way.
Believe most think I am drunk or stoned
and that is why I am living here.
I am not either, quite functional actually
except for the foreign voices I hear
that no one else does.
Jobs have been taken away
when I scream back at them.
 
Tonight they say it is getting colder.
I will never get used to it.
Trying to stay warm in this little tent,
worrying if we all will survive
when the snowflakes falls.
 
November 17, 2018
© Andrew Scott - Just A Maritime Boy 2018

​First heard about Lester three days ago.
The unexpected shock of his passing.
Most of us thought it would happen
years before with all the self-indulgence
but not now that he had survived that.
 
In Lester's young years temptation owned him.
It was simple cigarettes first
then came the drinks
he could not just say no too, ever.
Lester did not have a favourite.
 
Experimenting with harsher chemicals
came when he left high school
that Lester would never graduate from.
No one knows if he left or was asked to leave.
 
To all another lost, living life.
Wondering around,
becoming a young, self-abused fixture.
Walking roads in a circle
that lead to nowhere.
 
No one paid much attention to Lester.
He, like others, blended in as scenery
after folks stopped offering and giving help.
 
One day, all the sudden,
Lester appeared with washed, short hair,
working as a shelf stocker at a department store.
The shakes were there but he looked good.
Shaven, clean with clear eyes.
 
Word got out about Lester's turn around
after community trust was given
from all the previous attempts to help.
The sky for rebuilding was the limit.
 
A few years after the struggle of rebuilding
Lester me his four year-old daughter
from a night of numbness.
He welcomed her with open arms.
Lester's smile with life was everlasting.
Until last week, at Lester's new peak,
he was walking from a corner store
when he was hit by a speeding car.
The driver missed the lights to stop.
 
All the changes and potential to come
that we are never to see,
gone with the lost life of Lester.
 
November 7, 2018
© Andrew Scott - Just A Maritime Boy 2018