Message to Our Tent City Kids

author’s note:

“I’m fixing a hole where the rain gets in”
         -– “Fixing a Hole”, Lennon/McCartney


MESSAGE TO OUR TENT CITY KIDS

Dear Kids:

No, I’ve never lived
in an shaky tent
but I have known the pain
of insecurity

and often felt anxiety
as another rising wind threatens me
with yet another storm--
many nights I still
wrestle with
my worried head.

In those chaotic battles
I sometimes feel so weak
but in desperation, hold fast
until I find my strength:

often we must be diminished
before we realize
how tall we actually are.

Kids,
maybe you feel embarrassed
by the circumstances of your life.
Well, I say: be proud
of your accomplishment

(which is what I tell myself
 when I begin to judge
 my ragged patchwork past
 by the criteria
 of a critical society).

Tent city kids
don’t misunderstand me--
I wish you could sleep cozy
under a roof that won’t tear--
I pray someday you will.
But I must warn you:
no roof is rock solid.

Even a king in a castle
trembles at night--

maybe even more than you do.

I say:
we can all become wise kings
by rising to the challenge
of those unavoidable storms
that threaten to destroy
our human roofs.

© 2021, Michael R. Patton
Soultime: e-novel
searching for the new mythology