Italy: COVID_19: Story. A poem by John D Robinson

He walked into the supermarket
and filled the hand-basket with
food and then queued, keeping
to the social-distancing
guidance:
at the checkout he explained
that he had no money to pay
for the food but he and his
family needed the food: he
was not threatening or
aggressive in any way, pitiful,
humble, even pathetic:
security was called and he
was escorted out of the store
empty handed:
what would you
have done?
this is a tough one
but I’m soft so
possibly would have said
to the guy look, come back
in 3 hours and I’ll try
and have something
for you and then maybe
asked for donations from
colleagues and customers:
could you have gone home
taking the face of this
man with you?