look away

The rain falls gently as night’s dampness gives birth to thirsty flowers in the park. Sleeping bodies lie upon dampened cardboard bed and shivering cold of casket ground. I step carefully not to tread upon either.

Paper cup in hand and stench of booze walking before him he looks up from empty stare and interrupts my deepened thoughts. Piercing eyes of hollow deep with nothingness at its floor meet the dark of my own.

And, for a moment

our lives connect.

I long to reach out to feed his stomach,

and his soul. I long to relieve his hurt, if only for a moment.

But who am I? I know nothing of his pain, nothing of life drown in alcohol or the numbness of despair.

He looks away, as if judged, I look away,

ashamed I did not try.

~sf

#humanity #compassion #lost #homeless #judgement #understanding