Kindness spanned
And reached beyond its bounds
To some of those people
Whom the king had forbidden.  
You know the sort
You see loafing and lying about the depot station:
Dirty draggs
Of filthy ragged stench.
 
And yet there it was
As I descended from the train
On the Fourth of July,
A young couple
With scarcely enough clothes for one
Between the two.
They sat on the lawn awaiting the show,
The woman leaning back into the man,
His arm draped over her
In that sweet protective way
A man does with his cherished,
And her leaning into him for shelter
Her heart so obviously knit to his.
And the sun was setting behind them
And it was beautiful.
 
I saw it again the other day
When I passed the shelter,
From a man selling his wares
Of black and white.
When I declined,
He tried to bum a cigarette I didn’t have.
And then for an instant
He dropped the show
And he turned as I walked away
And said,
“That’s ok.  You have a good day.”
And I said the same.
And there was a kindness.
 
For sure it is out,
For it can be seen everywhere now,
In the soup line
And at the charity center
And in the faces of such a variety of others
That I cannot distinguish "my own" anymore,
For I am persuaded beyond reason
That they are all mine.
 
 
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