My roof is the blue sky
above the pillar of trees
My floor is the ground
now touched with flowers
I have nothing of this world
but the grime on my skin
and whatever is in this box
my bed and my fortress
Perhaps I have a name
I sealed it in my heart
along with the memories
of a once upon life.
I now go by Unknown
Often mistaken for Unheard
Both being invisible,
the mistake hardly mattered.
I only know of one future –
the earth opening under my feet
I hope I’ll have more than a box
to lay myself to rest.
~~~~
This piece was inspired by an article I read about the homeless people living in big cardboard boxes in NY train stations (if I recall the place correctly).
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beautiful; i especially liked:
Perhaps I have a name
I sealed it in my heart
along with the memories
of a once upon life.
Thanks, Lisa. 🙂
That was my favourite part too. Very moving
Thanks you, Michelle. 🙂
Sad…
Thought provoking… brilliantly put…
Imelda, this is exquiste … and don’t we all hope for more than a box. Poignant. Bravo!
Thank you, Jamie. 🙂
It’s a beautiful poem. We have lots of homeless in India
You’ve done it again. Another stunning poem, Imelda. Starts off with a glimmer of life and then simmers down to lots of sadness, desolation. So many emotions in so little words. Well done.
Thanks, Mabel. I am glad you liked it. 🙂
This is such a sad and tragic piece, Imelda. Wonderful writing again.
Thank you, Sylvia. 🙂
Reblogged this on Notes From The Margins and commented:
Cool poem. Might not be by a homeless person, but they get it.
Wonderful poem.
I hope we never find ourselves in this situation, Imelda.
It breaks my heart to see them sleeping in the streets. It irritates me when people with something complain about silly little things that they can’t have.
You are such a good natured person, Rommel. But I agree with you about people complaining about little things. How is it called now – “first world problems.” Many do not know what real want is like, even myself.
This was beautiful and heart-wrenching. Very poignant, and especially relevant also to me in Malaysia as our silly federal territory civil administration, rather than looking into the reasons for poverty, homelessness and finding long term solutions, is going after the homeless and the soup kitchen NGOs who feed them.
Also..thank you muchly for the comments on my chocolate piece, I haven’t been to my blog the past month, work got in the way. Cheers. :0)
Thank you for dropping by, Anne. I am sorry for the late reply.
I feel bad that government red tape is hampering the initiatives to help the homeless and alleviate homelessness.
A very sensitive and poignant piece Imelda. Such a tragedy that there are so many ‘invisible’ on this earth.