“A MEAL IN THE ALLEY…”

Around May 2022, a disabled woman in the USA found her meal left in her gravel alley, which she could not reach in her wheel chair. (The parcel should have been left in her porch). She had given a $26 dollar tip when ordering, but the delivery man found that too low and left the parcel in the alley.

“Woman With A Disability Is Appalled At How ….. Driver Treated Her After Being Unhappy With 26% Tip”

 

https://www.boredpanda.com/mad-about-tip-......-worker-left-order-driveway-disabled-woman-wheelchair-cant-get-it/ 

 

 (Image of meal pack : @lizardqween, Tik Tok.  Full acknowledgements are made here).

 

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                                 “A MEAL IN THE ALLEY…”

1^st stanza

With my wheelchair I can’t

Wheel myself to the driveway.

My meals would be deliver’d to my porch

Where I can reach.

I do give the tips,

As requir’d.

As usual, I placed my order and wait’d :

Ne’er thought they would ram hell into me…

 

*** 

2^nd

Goddam, bloody woman !...

A 26 % tip !!...

Who does she take me for ??...

Here be to you, arrogant woman !...

Come and pick the meal yourself :

You are not getting it in the porch,

That’s for sure…

Come and get it in the gravel alley !!...

That should teach the likes of ye lot…

 

*** 

3rd

Jeez !... How on earth am I going

To get there in my wheelchair…

Where did I go wrong,

For Pete’s sake ?...

I did give a 26 % tip…

Wasn’t that enough ?...

 

4^th

Ah me, who will take me to my meal,

Or, who will bring the meal to me ?...

What a life !...

How stone-heart’d be that guy…

In hither wheelchair

I will never make it to the alley…

 

5th

Who will help me now ?...

Is this what this guy does to me ?...

Am I not a human being anymore ?...

Let me grab a picture of the parcel,

For many won’t believe what I say :

From inside the house I will get a picture…

 

***

6^th

The food company apologis’d :

They offer’d a $100 gift card.

But, how can I order more

From that very outlet again now ?...

Of what use be that gift card ?...

 

*** 

7^th

From the house I stare at the food parcel :

This be to what I am reduc’d…

This be so heart-breaking…

How will this guy himself fare in the future ?...

What goes round comes round…

Bitter will he find the taste of his meal

When his strength will be gone…

 

8^th

Ah, a meal too far, too far…

I gaze at the parcel :

My heart sinks…

Even to a dog be his meal brought to him :

Into lesser than a dog have I turn’d ?!...

Even an animal is not thus spurn’d…

 

9^th

What a terrible life…

How long to survive thus :

Wouldn’t it be better to die off

Once and for all ?...

Only death will bring relief…

In the mean time must I suffer…

 

10^th

What on earth happen’d to humanity ?...

Must everything be a question of money,

Of dollars, of tips, of bigger tips ?...

Doesn’t this man have a soul ?...

Can he now take his own meal

Without any remorse ?...

God, that man is in food delivery :

I pray for my final delivery from this “life…”

This hellish “life”…

 

11^th

If I were chain’d up to a cage,

He would have brought my meal

Right in front of me…

Into a lesser being have I turn’d…

 

12^th and last

My meal yonder is a meal too far,

But my death is not far, not far…

Fare ye all well, people…

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Soman Ragavan

Mauritius (Indian Ocean) 

25 Dec 2023

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                            “MOTHERLAND (4)”

God, what a life, the life of the disabl'd !
'Tis not enough having to contend with nature :
Around them so many obstacles be assembl'd :
To the uncaring daily do they fall as pasture.

How many times have I seen with agony
A poor blind fellow in the bus groping :
Others budge not for some reason flimsy :
On to their seats always they be holding.

Says the sign : "Reserved for the disabled,"
But, the ignorant ones could not be troubl'd :
Promptly would they occupy that very seat :
They couldn't let go a place so handy and neat.

Still more might go on groping the poor disabl'd :
'Pon the reserv'd seat be the usurper settl'd.
Motherland, finally when would they learn :
After compassion when would they yearn !

Lo ! Hath just been administer'd, in a terrific deed,
Some resounding indictment of the unfeeling throng :
A disabl'd lady, showing how others be wrong,
Ced'd her seat to someone else in greater need.

To thee, kind young lady, be sung this chant :
Thou show'd how, of feelings, others be in want;
Though thou were thyself in need of comfort,
Thou prov'd to be an example of the best sort.

Here must we thunder to those that be ignorant :
For God's sake, leave yon bloody seat vacant !
Now be the time to give a chance to the disabl'd :
Tomorrow, with disabilities YE might be riddl'd ! “ 

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This poem appears at the following address on allpoetry.com :

 

https://allpoetry.com/poem/17085051-Poem----Motherland--4-----1-April--2023.--by-Soman-Ragavan

 

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