I am a man.

[FozzieFunk]

A whiskey stained cough
haunts the earnest air
riding the chilled skyline
facing the midnight fare

a mangled beard beams at the world
cast out of a breathless shame
clinking pennies fall to a hush
as crooked hearts creak with blame.

[hillwalker]

Commendable effort - I liked the 'whiskey stained cough' and the closing two lines.

My only quibble would be your reliance on rhyme that's forced you to choose a weak line with which to end the first stanza - and that expression in the second line of the second verse ('breathless shame') which seems out of context.

However, I enjoyed this for its brevity and the precise images it drew up of an old beggar presumably.

H

[osho]

A whiskey stained cough
haunts the earnest air
riding the chilled skyline
facing the midnight fare

a mangled beard beams at the world
cast out of a breathless shame
clinking pennies fall to a hush
as crooked hearts creak with blame.

This poem written metaphorically as to a whiskey stained cough haunting the earnest air is haunting me too

[Buh4Bee]

Great. I wasn't crazy about the last line. blame. makes complete sense but feels like the rhyme was holding the poem to this specific word. Maybe you could even toy around with switching blame and shame.