On the Street I Sit - A Sonnet

I sit and muse - what does my life entail?
Without a glance the shoppers pass me by;
Their heads bowed low against the icy gale,
In life so cold, so cruel, now trapped am I.

By drunken yobs and louts, assaulted, bruised;
A life to which the pit cannot compare;
In alleys taunted, groped, harassed, abused,
Here I sit distressed and in despair.

What brought me here? Engulfed by fear and dread,
My brutal father beat, assaulted me;
And bullied at school, away from home I fled,
And on the streets - a life I didn’t foresee.

Where now for me? Outcast and on the street,
I sit and wait, until my end I greet.

The subject of this sonnet is clearly a young person of about 16 or a little older.  He or she was spotted sitting in a shop doorway late one evening.  The poem outlines the issues confronting young people who find themselves on the streets after leaving ‘home’ following a family break up.