Poem: Perhaps it is Just Missing

I don’t believe that yesterday
Was any better
Than today

I don’t believe my mother
Or my father
When they say

That days gone by were brighter
That the future’s dried and gone
That hope is all forgotten
That somewhere
Someone
Went wrong.

I don’t believe that hope
Is a misty dream gone by
I don’t believe
Tomorrow
Is a stream
That’s all but dry

I don’t believe
That all hope in the world
Is gone

Perhaps it’s just missing

Homeless in America

She came with a backpack that used to be pink
And ribbons in her hair and a fresh smile to
Match her clean but stubbornly stained dress.
She was eager, friendly and foreign
She held her grandmother’s hand tightly
Until it was time to let go and be with the rest.
She was different in all the ways that mattered
And the same in all the ways that mattered
And neither of those things would ever be noticed
If they weren’t pointed out
By well meaning adults
Who don’t mean so well at all.