Skid Row Christmas

X-mas week and feeling down
in an up so jingle many bells town;
seeking shelter from the cold
sitting on a sewer grate in Toronto.

One of the shadows passing by
hearing my “spare change for a coffee” cry
said with a voice that cut like tin
“Dude, would you like some gin?”

Out here on the frozen fringe
time’s always right for a merry binge.
So I took the cup; it was ginger ale –
skid row’s version of wassail.