Tag Archives: homelessness

HEAVEN ON EARTH

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I have no knowledge of Heaven.

I have never been there,

except in dreams.

One thing I do know.

It must be a place where I

am surrounded by goodness,

fairness, compassion

and loving kindness

all of the time.

Heaven is the type of space

where hate has no place.

The sign in my yard

declares it to be so.

But, as we all know,

My selfish concerns sometimes show.

Creating a heaven on earth

may be an impossibility

because of my fragility

and lack of humility.

My human state has a dearth

of courageous purity.

Yet, still, I shall try to create

Heaven on Earth 

as a constant state.

The lack of goodness surrounds me

all too often these cruelty-laden days.

Kindness is the only way to delay

the triumph of evil over good.

I ask all those in my neighborhood

to join my effort, feeble though it be.

Any small kindness is stronger than cruelty.

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LIGHT CANDLES

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Altars of sacrifice are all around.

Candles of prayer light the ground.

Darkness recedes under great duress.

Lawyers are in full-court press.

Evil lurks and lunges until we despair;

its laughter and cheers rend the air.

Turbulent times make us all too aware

how humans carry a heavy load of fear,

how ready we are to disappear

before we lose heart 

and break apart.

We are tempted to remain abed

and close our eyes against  the dread

of monsters who long played dead

and hid under rocks, yet lived in our heads.

We live lives of useless malcontent

ready to blame the innocent

for acts of contrition that belong

not to the weak, but, to the strong.

Unable to admit we could be wrong,

we allow the liars to string us along.

We vote them in to replace our lost pride.

We set all reason and facts aside.

We wear red hats with slogans to hide

a weakness too fearful to abide.

When will such depravity end?

What harm done in the interim?

Soft exhales out in metered prose.

Screams trapped within a calm pose.

This is how every morning begins.

Candles relit on altars within.

Resistance alights again and again.

Another hour, another day, and then?

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HOMELESS SMILES

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I had only eight one-dollar bills in my purse that day.

The too-battered man standing at roadside a few feet away

caught my attention with his too-battered sign held 

close to his chest, on crudely-cut cardboard dirtied 

like him, over time; both dusted clear of all grime.

“Smile today” was the message he carried so closely.

A message so needed, so welcomed, so worthy.

Crossing over a lane to reach his side, traffic waiting

for the light to change, let me and my car, squeeze by.

I passed the dollar bills to an outstretched hand.

Then, the grey-haired man in need of a cut, 

leaned in to say “Thank you. God bless you.Have a nice day.”

The phrase a common lingo in the homeless way.

His eyes were lit from inside and he smiled, not trying to hide

his humanity, his sanity, his grace so sublime.

I smiled back and told him that I loved his sign.

Pulling out a second sign he had hidden behind the first,

I read the line, “Always Smile” and felt his thirst

to be seen and recognized and able to offer something to me.

Tearfully smiling in a moment of grace 

I thanked him the gift he had given to me,

a smile I had unknowingly needed desperately,

the “greatest gift I had received in very long time.”

a thousands suns lit his eyes and opened mine.

Homeless people need to help others as much as you and I.

They may not have shelter, nor food, nor rest;

yet, they still continue to give their best.

They watch us hungrily as we drive by on the road

They hunger not only for what we can give.

They hunger for what they can give to us.

It unburdens their load.

We are in this world together, one smile at a time.

A message of love from one man, alone by the road.

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HOMELESS WOMEN

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untitled women 

work the fields

ply the streets

rock the cradles

cry and weep

unnamed tears

forgotten smiles

un-styled hair

weary feet

arms akimbo

grace denied

homeless

but not heartless,

mores the pity,

where none resides

beside the curb

where hope dies

as titled women

simply pass by

and by

and by

and by

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