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The homeless man

Woody Fran

Groggily, hazy, I start to awake in the morning
Not fully opening my eyes
Just peeking through the dirty crusted eye lashes
The voice of the city starting it's drone
My body sore from the cold unforgiving unyielding unsympathetic cement
Footsteps are approaching and departing and I perceive blurry visions
A cold wind dances past me sending a shiver up my aching spine
I pull the cardboard and paper fortress closer wanting refuge
Desperately seeking escape of returning once again to slumber
But I know it's futile as I'm damned to another purgatorious day
The bugs scatter as I pull my coverings near
Wind, my foe, comes in as a thief after my warmth
And demonically carries the sweet smell of the corner café
With its newly baked wares, which I'll never attain
Purposely tantalizing me
Maybe a traveler, as usual, in their hurried existence
Will unappreciatively trash their half consumed feast
One could only hope, it happened last week
The rancid smell of my own breath overwhelms me
The taste in my mouth is caustic
As my dried tongue sticks to my parched pasty cheeks
My cracked lips bleed and burn
The smell of urine is overpowering
The throbbing that echoes throughout my skull unbearable
The street is now increasing its clamor
The crowds escalate and turbulence is amok
I surrender, I must arise
Bones creak as pain excruciatingly encompasses joints
Vertigo now my nemesis, I combat this advisory to regain my stature
The shatter of glass as the empty bottle splinters on cement
Momentary darkness, I overcome, shake it off
I've been victorious, I'm standing, it's the little things
Never in the battlefield had I so adamantly prayed for death as I do today
The concrete is cold through the holes in the soles of my shoes
But the callouses keep me from harm
As I shuffle along
I'm appreciative of the sun, it's warm on my cheeks
It smiles on me today
I see your stare, disgusted and disgraceful yet so na•ve
As you give me sizable space
You in your comfort, your safety, your luxury, your privilege, your utopia
You in your freedom
I don't fault you, you're oblivious, I didn't do it for recognition anyway
You wouldn't understand
I push on
I finally reach the park, desperately searching, eyes darting to and fro
God let it be so
And there you are
There you are in all your wonderous beauty
Sitting on the bench in all your tattered layers crowned in your worn smudged flowered hat
My queen
Your basket, your chariot, holding every worldly possession
I say Good morning, hold your chin in my hand and gently stroke your cheek with my leathery thumb
I bend and give a delicate peck on your soft cheek in all my grizzled stubbiness
Hoping not to abrade your gentle skin
Wondering if today you will recognize me
As you ramble on with wonderous stories I've heard endlessly
You hesitate, look up at me, and I hold my breath
Do you remember me
It's only a second, but seems an eternity, you smile and my heart aches
But you turn and continue on with loving drama of past commitments lovingly performed
I smile and sit and listen intently, watching your amazing facial expressions with each glorious account, I can almost recite them verbatim
I search your face for any hint at who you are and what transpires in your soul but this insight eludes me
We sit forever my hand in yours and I barely say a word, I just listen
But you are my existence, you're my world, you're why I want to live today
My love

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