Horizon Lines: Observations & Musings at Skid Row
Satellites and lines
Stretching out that horizon sky
Searching for what?
Limbos and escapes, highs or holidays
Grasping for just a moment…what?
Esperanza?
Dreamy musings, a shred of faith—
Or for something just to be different from normal
Whatever normal may be
Today?
Is that a safe there
That seat by the window
Facing out across the block?
Or perhaps a door to other worlds
We know naught about
Is that a haven for some little soul
The little shack perched among the leaves
Reaching for Laputa, Valhalla
Or galaxies only heaven can see?
Or is that where they dream
Among plastic tubes and brightly colored balls
A mighty sea for an adventurer
Amidst all-business voices that for fries and burgers call?
Just boys fast-tracking it on skateboards
Heading straight for the horizon line
A little girl with her backpack on her head
Like a rocket bound for the future’s clear blue skies
Babies be rollin’ in strollers
Haters be hatin’ as they come down that line
Riding with so much swagger
Ships of hope sent forth to better lives
Young dads, proud dads, smilin’ so fine
Tatted up Superman,
What’s your kryptonite?
Young moms, moving moms
Staring at traffic lights
What will they dream about
Looking out from bus windows tonight?
Gated places with pickets and bars
Utopia columns with tall gates and cameras
A house built from pieces and shards
Who makes it big as a soccer field star
From the toys scattered in an empty lot?
One movie poster plastered
On the side of a scratched bus stop
Who dreams of adventure
Where and what do they dream of?
Delicate blooms wave from thickets
In the setting sun’s rays
Crack after crack points me home
On an up-and-down pathway
There’s a heartbeat being played
On the rhythm of this sidewalk
There’s a song being tracked
Along the skyline’s visceral scars
Whispers of hope
Murmurings of pain
Dreams being recorded
And futures being paved
Humanity breathes
A faint hummed melody
Rising up to the stars
Whole and broken beauty
The Father’s delight
Beloved to the Lover’s heart
Forever etched across my mind
Becoming real again, at the Spirit’s bidding
Behind my closed eyes