the hands that grasped

and neighbors stand on their porches,and gawk… as you carry boxes and bags,and everything you own,and pile them into your car.you slowly pull from the drive,with tears in your eyes,and anger stuck in your throat…with no hope and no direction,and nowhere to go…only then, do you know,that homelessness is!

i lay in the well with Joseph,as they tore my coat of many colors to shreds.i stood on the rooftop with David,watching Bathsheba bathe…i walked to Gethsemene,and wiped the tears from Jesus’ face.and when each had finished their task,mine had just begun.i sat under the tree with Buddha,the image of my son burning my eyes.and…

melts, smelling your sleep!

thinking about children gone,and branches that diverged.thinking about women lost,in the aisles of churches, and department stores.thinking about hours burned,under the hot lamp of striving.scratching his name on the cover of the book,he closed his eyes to dream.yet somehow couldnt get rid of the tasteof children’s pajamas,the smell of the perfumeof kitchens…and the light in…

a mill worker, a carpenter, a trash collector…milked cows and rode horses,grown gardens and cut wood.i’ve been a kick boxer, a fugitive,a poet, and a mad lover.a two bit picker, a prisoner,an addict and a thief.a street preacher, a hobo,a father and a husband.a monk and a heretic….need i say more.i’ve loaded trucks and worked…

my grandmothers sudden gusts of wind,that came from nowhere and returned.my mother was a wolf,my father the hard trodden path.my sisters brought the rain,my brothers the bow and the arrow.my lovers made of shadows,my enemies demons that haunt.i am the fire tendedby hands unseen,the saw and the axe.i will return on a coming night,the pine…