Beloved Beautiful Homeless

Hello Beloved Beautiful Homeless
I do not know your name but
today I sat next to you
side by side, my bench and yours,
and smelled you as I watched
the pigeons and small birds
eating casually in the shady, sage-green grass.

Beloved Beautiful Homeless, I
have a question to ask you.
Why do you wear thick, fluffy, fleece pants
so very faded when it is 80F out today?
Is it because the nights are much colder
as you sleep out on these tired and tiring wooden benches
gazing up at the picturesque starry night sky here in Union Square?

You remind me of how my grandfather
looked before he died, Beloved Beautiful Homeless.
He too sat quietly avoiding conversations
all around choosing to stare and stare
and stare blank-faced into the world around him.
I loved him dearly and wonder what he must
have been thinking those many days; it is likewise with you

Fly Bird Fly

Oh caged bird now set free
flying high
soaring towards the wonderful aroma of freshly cut grass

Your wings carry you well
and make you graceful
showing all who care to look at you the beauty of your creation

Giddy --- your elation carries you
dancing wherever you please
voice no longer shackled or dismissed as lies

Fly free bird fly
roam like the wind
your wings will never tire, truth has set you free

Endowed with strength and grace
vibrantly colored
you are a master of the sky with more days left to embrace the heavens

In the Foolishness of Man is the Wisdom of God

Why is it not all for naught to you
when I break all of your oaths and willfully pursue
my own pleasures?

Why is it that you, with deep desire welling forth,
look upon me tenderly with grace-filled eyes
like a lover gazing back upon pregnant wife?

Why is it that I find freedom
when I lose all control and abandon myself
to simply live in your perfect desires?

Why is it that you bid me
to go the extra mile in love and likeness to you
rather than out of mere obligation?

Why is it that your love does not stop
for just those I like or call "friend"
but compels me to my knees to bid prayerful honors upon those who hate me?

Why is that I am called your friend and fellow heir
though I act just as those who hate both me and you
hurling insults, marring and scarring wounds upon a creation you called "good"?

Why is that you send your waters
upon your beloved and your yet-to-be Shulamite,
blessing and gracing both with equal, unmerited provisions?

Why is it is that your family extends
beyond flesh and bone and blood piercing the darkness,
enabling countercultural living to become a perfected and pleasing reality?

... because that IS your UNconditional love.