Those Who Hunger & Thirst

Those who hunger are the 

ones standing at the margins

those who thirst are lying under 

foot being trampled by passers by

as they cry out No!

Whether the hunger or 

the thirst is ours 

or not

we eat at table with 

the hungering and thirsting ones

or not

for sometimes we get 

very good at ignoring their cries

shutting our eyes tight against 

the things they scream in our ears

it’s just too much

and we are too few

and it’s not our problem

and what can one person, 

one family, one church, 

one village, do?

Perhaps we might begin

simply by beginning –

remembering that hunger

and thirst are not abstract –

not theoretical

for they are not

and the real need

sits at table with us

always

That, perhaps,

is their blessing

to we who do not

Heart Beats & Hand Grenades

Of late I feel my heart beating
it’s disconcerting, to say the least
one of the luxuries of a heartbeat
is unawareness – blythe indifference
lack of attention to it all as this
marvelously crafted body does what
a body is to do – without notice
except that now I notice and somehow
the noticing feels like an unexploded
hand grenade of ticking – or ticking
down – time – and I have to say –
I don’t like it much –
but who asked me?