Poverty From The Inside Out

Scrambling trying to get crumbs from bums
Hopping the turnstile with style
Begging for bread on 57th street in a snow storm
trying in vain to stay warm
been on the streets for too long things go wrong
Daily scramble and gamble trying to get by trying to stay high
jobs are lost money spent is too quickly can't pay the rent
Working two low paying jobs feet hurt from standing all day at work
Credit card debit mortgage a hill of unpaid bills sit still
Scrambling pan handling no savings money craving
selling your goods in the hood on the Internet
to see how much you can get getting desperate
the cash you want to fetch
trying to come up with a theme to redeem
your get rich schemes are suspect
living from pay check to pay check feeling like a reject
playing lotto a dollar and a dream learning life is mean
living off of baked chicken and burnt rice and beans
the new year brings more fears no cause to cheer
but thankful you’re still here still hating career
know the end is near no friends or peers
Saving your many pennies look upon the wealthy with envy
Decades upon decades of scrambling get worn thin
poverty erases grin digging in trash bin feeling like a has been
Unemployment welfare finding out your family does not care
it's all too much to bear feeling lonely caught in despair
Holes in your much used shoes getting tired of singing the blues just want to get drunk and hit the booze life is a mix of choices we choose
So much scrambling and rambling
Street hustles and sore muscles corner scuffles
Coming up short banks suing and taking me to court
Trying to scout a way out
Seems like there is no way staggering through another day
Collecting the minimum wage working way past the retirement age
Money running low not that far it goes tired of wearing the same worn out clothes need a new strategy sinking with the economy always one step from a tragedy