Seen

Destitute.
Strung out?
Crouching on the curb
Bare feet, thin blanket
Still, quiet
People see, pass carefully
Afraid? Disgusted?
One gives pause
Passes by like everyone else

Yet returns! bearing gifts
Bright white shoes, heavy coat
Thick socks, groceries
Carefully unties the laces
Sets the coat on hunched shoulders
And the old blanket over it all
Prays and doesn’t care
If it will all be sold tonight
Or if it matters tomorrow
A gift given, received
In freedom

Crouched, huddled, blanket
Bright white shoes
Eating a quiet breakfast
One saw what others missed
Creator’s image
Traced on a sun-scorched face
White shoes or bare feet
She is loved.
Seen.

This week begins a new year in the church calendar! I hope to post this year, loosely following the church calendar as a guide. You’ll mostly see poetry, but occasionally some other form of creative writing. Come along for the ride!

While December is the end of our calendar year, church tradition resets its calendar with Advent, a season of anticipation as we wait for God to enter our world. This poem describes a scene I witnessed, but it also feels like an apt metaphor for the season.

Most of us don’t consider ourselves so desitute as the woman in this poem, but in reality we are not so far away from her condition. Humanity sits much as she did, seeking a place to rest in the midst of a difficult life and hardly expecting to be seen by someone who can make any difference.

When we look at the pain around us, it can feel like God passed by without noticing. In Advent, we engage with the tension of waiting for God to act, turning to face our own resignation and disappointment, inviting God to turn it into anticipation.

What other traces of the Advent season do you see in this poem?

©2023 Jacqueline Tisthammer. All rights reserved.

Photo by Ev on Unsplash