The below poem was originally published in The Street Spirit Newspaper in Berkeley, California titled 'Today at Social Security' by Judy Jones
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'We All Walk a Mile
in Each Others Shoes'
by Judy Joy Jones

today at
the social security office
down the street
i did see
a man shaking so badly
he couldn’t stand
telling everyone
he just got out of jail
and needed a hand

he had no teeth
and looking in his eyes
i understood he was in a place
few on earth see

and the young woman
weighing over 300 pounds
talking on her phone
about her daddy
who beat her so badly
they came and took her away
when she was only three

and now she lived
in shelters
or on the streets
with her baby in hand
begging for a place
they could call home

the couple from
a foreign land
who spoke
no english
and pretended
not to hear
as they looked
into space
refusing to accept
they too were
part of this place

a man and woman
nodding off
from their
heroin shots
as he held her upright
so the security guard
wouldnt make them leave
while they drifted
in and out
of their opium dreams
waiting to get
welfare relief

and the elderly man
sitting peacefully alone
seemed to know
this was not
his true home
remembering he was
a pilgrim
just passing thru
this temporary place

and the woman
yelling at the guards
that she wanted
to see a clerk now
and would fight
anyone who got
in her way
loudly cried
why did they
put her name last

the guard looked happy
getting ready
to bully anyone
who stepped outta line

but noone in this place
had the strength
to fight
and all they had left
were broken dreams
of what they could
have been

the guards job
was finished each day
before work began
not one person
struggled with him
past a few nasty words

sighing he would go
back to his post
still longing
for a good fight
but he knew
these people
had been beaten down
by life
and he would never
have the great fights
he dreamed of every night
while watching
cops and robbers on tv

and in the corner
sat a tattooed lady
with a snake on her face
and spiders and lizards
covering her arms and legs

i looked at everyone
as I soaked in their pain
and knew once again
they were me and I them

no one
was above or below another
we were all one
in the same dream

a super clear mirror
of me did i see today
at the social security office
down the street

by Judy Joy Jones
c jj 2020

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The above piece was originally published in The Street Spirit Newspaper in Berkeley California at the link below and is the Fifth Poem on the page Titled;

"today at social security"
by Judy Jones

https://thestreetspirit.org/2012/06/13/prayers-and-poems-from-a-shelter