A Modern Saint

You have your own poor
amidst your own wealth,
no less distant from short-arm jabs
and handouts
from the deep pockets of their own stolen goods.
You have your own wordless
asleep in your library,
no less hungry for a roadside snack
while thumbing a ride
on the information super-highway.
You have your own ‘orphans’
surrounding your family,
no less abandoned
than refugees,
distantly disguised
by the soft focus of history.
You have your own excommunicated,
the ‘disappeared’ in your community,
no less denied
for their difference
when you send in the clones.
You have your own bureaucrats
framing your love of God,
no less certain
in their knowledge
than a hundred years ago.

In the end,
there is no more life left to tell
but your own,
saintly in its endless beginnings.

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Image Credit: Photo by Matt Collamer on Unsplash