A Poem

Journal Entry
September 8, 2012

Suddenly sad I'm swayed by the weather:
overcast and orange hued;
children playing in the garden,
barefoot and ragged,
their ashy grey lives forgotten 
in the technicolor world
inside the gates,
giggling, 
running for shelter 
from the fresh rain
that blankets the earth
with a sigh,
while the City of Joy
groans;
Mud and floods,
poisonous water 
that rushes over my sandaled feet,
bloated rats,
yesterday's trash,
swim past
through these puzzling streets;
The family's outside laying cardboard boxes
over a layer of bricks
a step higher 
than the flood,
covering themselves 
with a homemade tarp,
their plastic shelter,
waiting,
always waiting.