Begging, your honour, is a crime;

It embarrasses the nation,

Which, as everybody knows, is

Full of hype and elation.

 

In fact, hunger by itself

Is a most heinous crime;

Images of hungry millions

Shame those who eat all the time.

 

After all, between the image and

The reality, the former matters most;

The image must be the reality made

To be great at any cost.

 

Beggars, if beg they must,

Best beg for banking loans

That run into lofty millions

And make of beggars dons.

 

Good governments can hardly countenance

Beggars at traffic crossings;

When at bottom they survive

By beggar-dons blessings.

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