Ode to the Shopping Cart Man
of comfort and warmth.
Blundering up and down the street my old eyes would come to meet a metal home on wobbly wheels lacking luxuries and decent meals Enduring all transient weathers his pile of simple helpful treasures bags and bags of bicycle parts tinsel, buckets, detritus arts There are no po-li-ti-cal solutions for humanity's convolutions Carry on and do not care Do not look up, do not despair. Do not count each dollar of their waste nor renounce the ab-so-lute disgrace In time the sidewalk disintegrates as ambivalence decides their fates Humanity is fine you see hands-off justice is justifiably the unwanted and bedraggled a fourth world storm unshackled America, I sing of thy nation Sweet, sweet land of liberation Sea of scrap, blue tarp commission Free are they in democracy's prison Seven days walking, talking to air dazed, confused, jasmine everywhere Are we not one step away from this ma-ra-thon decay Where flowers bloom in asphalt cracks of doom and birds sing their song as God asks how long? Dear humans of comfort and warmth our great Star is pointing north You have heard that it was said Oh teachers of the law you did tread Generosity left the way of queens Fine clothes, clean hair and shiny rings of kings who look to understand their bellies and great fantasylands Stumbling, shoeless, broken down give him a robe and a thorny crown make him eat from a garbage can this is the ode to the shopping cart man - Deborah T. Hewitt
One day every knee will bow…
Deborah,
You wrote: "a fourth world storm unshackled"
This is a visual line to ponder. "Third World" elicits strong images in our minds. The "fourth world" is now brought into focus by this "ode to the shopping cart man." When I think of third world, I think of a label placed on impoverished countries. The fourth world has no place of residence or home to rest their heads. The fourth world has no country, for they are outcasts in all countries. "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God". (Luke 6:20-21)
Joel
Hi Deborah, thank you for this recognition of those people often ignored because people are confronted by the reality that these circumstances can and do happen to people from all walks of life, and homeless people are ignored often because of assumptions about them somehow putting themselves into these circumstances. This speaks of a widespread issue for our humanity, more compassion and empathy. Not too sure people consciously choose this for themselves. 🙏❤️🙏