The Longest Night

Remember that the smallest seed of faith is of more worth than the largest fruit of happiness. - Thoreau

late december just before christmas 2016

homeless with nothing but a backpack

doorway to doorway of unlocked entranceways of apartment buildings

trying to keep warm and kill the unforgiving night

scenes of life playing out in my head like a bad movie

arguing with god like a cheap suit lawyer

just when i think i won't make it

the distant, subtle glow of dawn

a glimmer of hope in a nuclear winter

a pin in a bent finger with a splinter

the coffee shop will be open soon

tired legs willing but spirit barely able

i go inside and sit down at a table

thank him for the light

thank him for the might

thank him for being there to help bear the burden of an interminable plight

thank him for not being busy flying his kite

thank him for keeping a leaking boat of faith upright 

thank god for getting me through

the longest night

Author's Note

"The mason asks but a narrow shelf to spring his brick from; man requires only an infinitely narrower one to spring his arch of faith from." - Henry David Thoreau

Reviews

[Kathy Van Kurin]

'The Longest Night'
Pete,
This was super meaningful. The human soul brought to a place of vulnerable need. Lonely, cold, hungry we see ourselves if the circumstances flipped. Where we live, financial stability, emotional support. People loose what they thought would go and it happens all the time. Never take any thing for granted. Any city shows fellow humanity living your poem. Also the cries to God happen when we are no longer our own God.
Bless you.
Kathy

[Pete]

"long" doesn't even begin to capture it. you are deeply astute in your shared thoughts kathy. we know not how or when faith will carry us until all is stripped away and we are desperate even for our next warm breath not knowing how. thanks so much kathy ... :)

"My actual life is a fact, in view of which I have no occasion to congratulate myself; but for my faith and aspiration I have respect. It is from these that I speak." - Thoreau