Sleeping Rough

Safe For Tonight

Who is there for you when the bad men roam?

It’s late at night; you have no home.

Tingles of dread run through your blood;

Being a know-it-all wasn’t very good.

Goodnight, London streets, in the doorways of the night,

I have to sleep, yet I am full of fright.

Footsteps loud make my heart beat fast;

I would run if I hadn’t a plaster cast on my foot.

This breath I take could be my last;

Bad men prowling, looking for sex.

In my mother’s house, amongst all her rules,

She has big fluffy slippers, expensive red mules.

I hear him now; his breathing’s fast.

The next few breaths could be my last.

Police cars passing see me in good time;

They think I am soliciting,

for a bed tonight I will admit to the crime

The bad man runs; I am put in a car,

A cell for the night. The policeman says,

how lucky you are, dirty girl we saved your life

I close my eyes, a nice warm bed,

Two burnt toast and tea—thank you, God, I’m fed.

A few days in safety, then back on the streets I go.