I see you on the street corner
Well dressed, waiting for the walk signal.
Defiant, yet polite, I ask for your attention
Two worlds colliding for an instant
My clothes have not seen a wash
Since I picked them up
I wonder if you can see anything
But the eyes on my hirsute face
Your demeanor has a familiar alert, indifference
You cannot wait for the signal to change
So you can charge away
Retreating to your world of citizenship
I ask you for change with practiced ease
Appealing, as I sense right, to your
Vanity or pity or kindness or gullibility
'No change' you say walking away, like most today
I am not a salesman used to handling rejection
Nor a politician who has lost a vote
Not a child denied a treat
I am the one robbed of dignity I did not possess
2 comments:
The poem shares thematic connections with Auden’s The Unknown Citizen and Kafka’s The Trial, as all three works critique the ways modern society dehumanizes individuals. In Thief, societal indifference denies the narrator both dignity and recognition, much like The Unknown Citizen, where a life is reduced to bureaucratic measurements and conformity. Similarly, Josef K. in The Trial becomes lost in a faceless judicial system, his humanity disregarded in the face of arbitrary rules. Each work reflects the isolation of individuals—whether marginalized, celebrated for compliance, or caught in systemic power—highlighting the struggle to retain identity and worth.
The use of irony in Thief, particularly in the plea for “change” and its layered meanings, resonates with Auden’s satirical tone and Kafka’s absurd critique. In The Unknown Citizen, irony underscores the emptiness of conformity, while in The Trial, Kafka exposes the illogic and alienation caused by unchecked systems. Taken together, these works encourage reflection on how modern structures often fail to value individuality or recognize humanity, offering a subtle but important challenge to societal indifference.
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