Where Have All The Homeless Gone?

Where have all the homeless gone?
Where have all the homeless gone?

No one walks the streets at night
no more idling from pub to club
groups of hens and stags extinct
birthday drunks have sobered up
match day pints no longer drunk
abandoned streets to viral fears.

Where have all the homeless gone?
Where have all the homeless gone?

No late night souls to loudly ignore
the blank stares are staying home
car parking a multi storied memory
cash withdrawal a thing of history
queue for last buses all departed
no guilty conscious dropping coins.

Where have all the homeless gone?
Where have all the homeless gone?

The guy in the car park entrance
aging punk who punched Sid Vicious
sleeping bags on the Liffey bridges
couples huddled in dark corners
cardboard home closed church door
pavements a home to failing policy.

Where have all the homeless gone?
Where have all the homeless gone?

Cannot see them they are not real
do not see them don’t have to deal
no guilt or worry as they are gone
from the daily workday ambulation
no reminders of their existence
staying home solves the problem.

Where have all the homeless gone?
Forgotten… but the are not gone!

Ciaran Burke