I stand with you
in a line for food.
I stand with you
and wait.
I stand with you
in measured space.
I stand with you,
my face masked,
our eyes looking
in at our hearts,
our breath
in our ears,
while we listen
out for the call.
I stand with you
in lines,
or loose congregations
like leaves fallen
from a tree
to the stone ground.
I stand with you
in the wind
and the sun,
in the rain,
in the artificial light
of the market place.
I stand with you,
a mark in time,
a number,
a letter of the alphabet.
I stand with you,
closed and exalted
in my private music.
I stand with you
in a memory
of conversation.
I stand with you,
catching a glance,
your eyes are blue,
brown, green, hazel,
and I feel I know
you like a deep dream.
I stand with you
with my shopping bag,
with my fears
and positive thoughts,
with last night’s
lack of sleep,
with a strange freshness
brought by a new day,
with a clock in my chest,
with a common heart,
with the giving hope
of poems and songs,
with bread and painkillers,
with Biblical psalms,
with the novels
of Camus and Defoe,
with reams of data
and information,
with dancers on balconies
defying the loneliness,
with the old who still
call hello,
with the young
and their games.
I stand with you today.

– Mark Mordue ©

 

Addi Road Food Pantry. Photo by Mark Mordue.