The Passage

Here the homeless queue
for motherly nuns
to dish out meat and veg,

for showers, clothes,
central heating,
company, conversation,

medical attention,
to use computers
to apply for jobs,

to borrow blankets against the cold,
suits for interviews,
an address for housing waiting lists:

economic migrants,
demobbed soldiers, the divorced,
mad, alcoholic, unemployed, unlucky

from Africa, Greece, Ireland,
Manchester, shop doorways
and Westminster Cathedral’s steps.