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

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