The Beggar

(The Tramp at Christmas by Anna Mary Robertson
“Grandma” Moses, 1860-1961, American painter)

“It will not bother me in the hour of death,” wrote C. S. Lewis in A Letter to an American Lady, “to reflect that I have been ‘had for a sucker’ by any number of impostors; but it would be a torment to know that one had refused even one person in need.”

THE BEGGAR

He begged and shuffled on;
Sometimes he stopped to throw
A bit and benison¹
To sparrows in the snow,
And clap a frozen ear
And curse the bitter cold.
God send the good man cheer
And quittal² hundredfold.

~ Ralph Hodgson (1871-1962), English poet

¹ benison – blessing
² quittal – acquittal, forgiveness