JOE

His name is Joe

Soft spoken

Frail

A kind and gentle man

Humble glow

Surrounds his haggard features

Years of hard living

Speak volumes

From the soot beneath his fingernails

His skin

Blackheads covered in grime

Loam caked camouflage

Bushy red beard

Speckled with gray

Growing for years without grooming

One of the most polite men I have ever met

He invited me into his home

Underneath the Rideout Road Bridge

We talked for hours

About his childhood memories of Crossroads

Just outside of Ruston Louisiana

His fathers moonshine still

Their only means of support

Tears welled in his lonesome eyes

As he spoke of his wife and children

Lost in the abyss of time

Intelligent solitude

Sprang from him like front page news

He described life on the road

Soup kitchens

Homeless shelters

Greedy social agencies

Tough Texas Rangers

Who take no lip from any man

The demon crack

His first hand account

“How it brings a grown man to his helpless knees”

His knowledge of the bible

Impressive

Far deeper than my own

“The meek shall inherit the earth”

Joe waits patiently for our Savior to arrive

I see him walking along I-565 daily

In search of discarded cigarette butts

“It gives me exercise” he tells me

A chuckle surfaces from his fragile body

Wispy

Pallid

In need of a good meal

God blessed me with a new friend today

Thank you Father

For the benison of His words

His genuine companionship

I will visit him often

My life

Will never be the same

© Bill Grimes Jr. 2005