Coins and Fleas: Committed Beggars

Tattered beggar clothing brings
Remedy to guilt-fed tourists.
They provide such mighty princedoms,
Forgetting prayers in lieu of coins and fleas.

Once, I dropped a piece,
Clanked that disk cupward,
Only to receive physical prodding
For more and more and more.

Seems like bread’s price plus gasoline’s
Meteoric rise among social strata
Makes paupers entitled to additional
Comeuppance while we others await salvation.

I fled that shop without my fish,
Trailing noodles, flour, apples,
Forgetting my tour was meant
For my family’s sweet week’s finish.

Ignorance no longer shows
Faith in unschooled measures;
Hope plus pity hold out hands,
Qualifying our neighbors’ income.