EMPATHY & or MASOCHISM?

I walked past “your corner”

on my way home from work tonight

The wind was strong and I was cold

I looked at your “spot” on the ground

(the corner) where you sat religiously…

You are not there anymore…

I am happy and sad because I do not like

“Not knowing” what happened to you.

I never wanted to care, you were just a beggar

I swore I wouldn’t fall for your panhandling “hustle”

and I am not enabling you…

but one day I couldn’t help but ask

“Do you really make enough money to go through

all this and is it really worth it?”

we talked and you explained  your life,

you were so young and lost

you sat in the scalding sun

you sat in the freezing cold

I would talk to you every day

you were a familiar face

I wanted you to strive for more

but it still feels odd without you now

I hope it is changed for the better

I changed my life but I still identified

with your stubborn ways

sitting in a crazy, rough neighborhood

asking for help…

Every time I pass that corner

I see the world as if I were you

I feel the cold, I feel the sunburns

I feel like a nomad

that lived for the day

and not the future

goodbye my friend

It’s time to change where

I let my spirit take me

For what I embrace and endure

I have to  forget you, my friend

since everything in life

is temporary  I cannot continue

to only see and identify the world

through the eyes of the broken.