Madison Street: Ragman

 

A typical ragman from long ago

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ragman

 

April, and the ragman’s come around

with fingerless gloves, and a greasy leather pouch

jingling with the pennies he will pay

for other people’s junk, three cents a pound.

Grizzled, grimy, something of a grouch,

he speaks like someone come from far away.

He’ll buy old pipes and pulleys, bottles, scraps

of cloth and metal, magazines, perhaps

a little holy terror now and then

(according to our moms and dads); and so

it’s no surprise to all the neighbors, when

we hear the ragman’s tiny tin horn blow

announcing he’s come down our street again,

that Phil and Eddie opt to lie real low.