There's Always Something

As It Is With Charity

There is a lost city of people

you don't see begging for change

any more. They used to be there

every day, same clothes, same corners.

Some say they've gone to an island.

There are clues in ancient texts

about such events, about the meek,

the poor-in-spirit, there's always

something about a leper, or a blind man

soliciting alms from the rich,

but inevitably, as the stories go,

some nymph or leprechaun arrives

in the nick of time with a map

to a city of gold, a glorious palace

furnished with the bits and bobs

the rest of us don't want: our old couch

left for trash but rescued

by the itinerant elves of recycling,

garbage bags stuffed to splitting

with the clothes we wore before the kids,

all kindly donated to the needy

citizens of Xanadu or Shangri-La,

of Atlantis or Brigadoon,

or the Union Street YMCA.

– Paul Vermeersch (Between the Walls)