The Gift of a Day

Handing out breakfast tickets
Wiping down tables
Mopping floors
I say, "Good morning!"
A disheveled man perks up and says "'mornin' Edith! Love your smile!"
I reply back, "I love yours!"

Drunkenness and horrid addictions come through the doors everyday
But that is just a cover up of things that are much deeper
I see Pain, Dejection, Betrayal and Hopelessness

Stories of unimaginable abuse and violation
Stories of great loss
Stories of abandonment and survival

Sitting in front of me
He just doesn't know how to deal with it all
He doesn't want to
He doesn't want to feel the pain
I wonder how much more poison his decrepit body can handle

What can I possibly say?
What can I possibly do?

I serve her with a smile
I listen to him
I look at them straight in the eyes and see a spirit
I share that there is Hope and Love in the One
I pray

I pray in sorrow
I pray with a broken heart
Sometimes I pray with no words because they just don't suffice

With every step forward
We celebrate
No such thing as a small step forward
These steps are big because the rest of the world wants to keep her down
I am a proud parent

Journeying through the victories and setbacks
I am humbled that he would let me into his world
I cannot offer him anything
Only me
That I keep on walking alongside him one day at a time

e.