I am headed home with my folder of papers, books,
celebrating my success with overpriced coffee
a small tan paper bag, with a mermaid
and an inspirational corporate poem-
“flavors my senses,
sweetens my disposition,
stirs my imagination,
nourishes my dreams”.
All this and a huge oatmeal raisin cookie too.
You called me brother
and asked for a little help
begging on Washington Street,
zigzagging from person to person
everyone avoids you, each one turns away.
You remind them that there are no guarantees,
luck runs dry, one bad move, things gone wrong,
unemployed, hungry, broke down, unfixable you.
And on a cool November Sunday, I looked in your eyes
and just said “No”, the first time anyone looked at you.
or said anything to you all day.
It occurred to me that
at least I should have given you the bag
with my cookie in it and I thought, too late
of running after you with the little sack
in my hand, shouting…
“Brother, take my cookie, I do not deserve it
and you need it more than me, I am sorry
that I turned you away, I am selfish like all the others
walking down this street on a Sunday in November.”
http://flickr.com/photos/mrblah/131712937/
celebrating my success with overpriced coffee
a small tan paper bag, with a mermaid
and an inspirational corporate poem-
“flavors my senses,
sweetens my disposition,
stirs my imagination,
nourishes my dreams”.
All this and a huge oatmeal raisin cookie too.
You called me brother
and asked for a little help
begging on Washington Street,
zigzagging from person to person
everyone avoids you, each one turns away.
You remind them that there are no guarantees,
luck runs dry, one bad move, things gone wrong,
unemployed, hungry, broke down, unfixable you.
And on a cool November Sunday, I looked in your eyes
and just said “No”, the first time anyone looked at you.
or said anything to you all day.
It occurred to me that
at least I should have given you the bag
with my cookie in it and I thought, too late
of running after you with the little sack
in my hand, shouting…
“Brother, take my cookie, I do not deserve it
and you need it more than me, I am sorry
that I turned you away, I am selfish like all the others
walking down this street on a Sunday in November.”
http://flickr.com/photos/mrblah/131712937/
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2 comments:
I think we all have been selfish at one time or another
with so much talk about change,, i would think it may be in your future to buy a cookie,, with the expressed purpose of changing the day of someone less fortunate than yourself...
it can be that easy... if we let it... or it can be as hard and as callused as that "no" you ate to regret.
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