Another Mirage

The dark lives of the homeless

Photo by Mark Tulin

I thought the homeless man was a mirage
He stopped at the crosswalk, almost transparent
He had ripped boots and matted hair
His pants shredded; his face sun brown and soiled

He joins the list of those who move into darkness
People that seem like optical illusions
Clinging to distorted hopes and dreams
Needing to be rescued from depravity

No one seems to care if they go hungry
Everyone ignores their pain
As if their humanness wasn’t there
A person who doesn’t deserve our empathy

The next day I saw a homeless woman
This time pushing a creaky Ralph’s shopping cart
Her treasures stacked high in her carriage
Her precious jewels wrapped in garbage bags.

© 2021 Mark Tulin

Here’s another poem by Mark Tulin:

My Inner Bodhisattva