Faith Has Its Privileges

It's only by forgetting yourself that you draw near to God. - Thoreau

not understanding why at the time

a little before christmas several years ago

homeless shelter told me i no longer had a bed there

so i laid down under a bush on the snowless, frozen ground in front of the church in darkness

too cold

too hard

too lonely

too real

too much to feel

too __________ (fill in the blank)

only one person to thank

uncomfortable

impossible to get any peace

decided to get up and walk around a closed, slumbering city

ducking in entranceways wherever doors could be opened

couldn't stay anywhere for too long

gotta'  keep moving

repeating

at least until the coffee shop opens

refusing to let the song ever leave me

finally morning came after the longest night

ushered by the brightest, most beautiful, glowing sunrise i'd ever seen

along with all that from a faithful creator could ever be gleaned

it's amazing how much you can have with nothing

faith has its privileges

perhaps, now, you'll

hear and see what i mean

Author's Note

“The morning, which is the most memorable season of the day, is the awakening hour. Then there is least somnolence in us; and for an hour, at least, some part of us awakes that slumbers all the rest of the day and night. Little is to be expected of that day, if it can be called a day, to which we are not awakened by our Genius, but by the mechanical nudgings of some servitor, are not awakened by our own newly acquired force and aspirations from within.... After a partial cessation of his sensuous life, the soul of man, or its organs rather, are reinvigorated each day, and his Genius tries again what noble life it can make... The Vedas say, "All intelligences awake with the morning." All poets and heroes, like Memnon, are the children of Aurora, and emit their music at sunrise.” - Thoreau