The flower girl

Sat in the coffee shop
to escape the weather.
The rain was just short of a deluge
across the road I saw the flower girl.
she looked so small and frail.
at her feet was a pail of cut flowers.
the small sign said two dollars each.
the people passed her by unoticed.
trying to reach the subway trains
and go home to family and dinner.
she seemed so thin and looked hungry.
every now and then she would
carefully empty the water
from her bucket to save her
precious flowere from
becoming waterlogged.
After a while it was obvious
that no one would buy her flowers.
she crossed the road to the door
of thecoffee shop I was sat in.
I remembered her then
from the cinema line
the other day.
her sign then said
alone with three
hungry children.
No longer in the mood
for a steaming hot coffee
and pastries.
I left the cafe
and placed my last twenty dollars
into her basket.
feeling so inadequate that
I had no more to give her.
then as I walked home
I could not wait to hug my
teenage daughter.
and tell her I loved her.