Compassion

There’s a man on the corner. I don’t know his name
He smiles regardless of cold or the rain
He sits on the corner with a cup in his hand
He sits there and smiles, this ragged old man
People pass by, not a second to spare
Compassion lost in busy lives. Do they see him there?
So there the man sits until his smile has faded
His face filled with despair, sunken and shaded
When a woman walks over, burdened with bags
Hands one to the man, and her sweater he snags
To get her attention and tell her in tears
He hasn’t held that much food in years.
God, help us find compassion, show us a way
To brighten or lighten even one persons day
Help us open our hearts, open our eyes
To be the shoulder on which somebody cries
To hold open the door to let others walk through
To introduce people when someone is new
But what about places far overseas?
Places left without hope and filled with disease?
Mother lays in a dirty bed
Upon her lap rests a little head
hollow eyes stain her dress with tears
Confirmed the worst of his heart broken fears.
She raised him well, all on her own,
Brothers and sisters left long ago
When they could no longer bear the hurt
Of bellies empty all but dirt
Each fell asleep and never awoke
Taken under deaths far stretched cloak,
Now this woman here she lies
Slipping under the cloak, although she tried
To stay back for her child here
The boy who stained her dress with tears.
You are not deaf, why can't you hear?
You are not blind, why can't you see?
Twenty-five-thousand mourning cries
Twenty-five-thousand people die
Not in one year, not in two
Not in a month, not in a few
Twenty-five-thousand every day
Yet we choose to look away.
Not just the people in our city streets
Hungry, without a thing to eat
It’s people found in every land
Who need the touch of a loving hand.
God, help us find compassion, show us a way
To brighten or lighten even one persons day
Help us open our hearts, open our eyes
To be the shoulder on which somebody cries
To hold open the door to let others walk through
To introduce people when someone is new
Because maybe, just maybe the little things that we do
Will start something bigger. It could start with you.