Oh how hard the hard-hearted rich are
when they meet a working person in their places
of work   a cab or a restaurant kitchen
and the hard heart    beats and eases   the mouth
into saying well they do get minimum wage
probably and when they meet     an
ordinary bum or maybe a homeless person
on their street or broad boulevard
standing on the pavement common to
all the good shops   holding a paper cup or cap
asking for change   oh say the hard-hearted rich
they will use it for drugs or drink and be found
at midnight in drunken sleep in the doorway
of one of the best shops of all
Then the hard-hearted rich and
there are many many in our city
just as there are many many women and
men working in hard-driven poverty
or not working at all    oh the hard-hearted rich
move into the glorious evening of drinking and talking
and eating and drinking     again   into sleep
in their queen-size beds as though they
were queens with kings beside each other
and it’s night and moon’s bright
light falls through the huge windows
then they decide to try
love   as a kind   of heart softener
they are tired and think to try    love