Oct 29th, 2022: A Bowl of Soup and Now What?

He didn't want to look at me.
Yet, he asked me for money.

He was cold and filthy.
His fingers kept twitching slowly.

He just wanted cash and told me so clearly.
I declined and told him that I had none on me.

I told him that I would eat lunch with him.
He looked at me and thought I had gone out on a limb.

"Hot and Sour Soup." he said with his bewildered eyes.
"You have a deal, my friend!" I replied.

We sat by the river-walk with our bowls of soup.
Walkers and bikers kept passing through.

I asked him about his family.
He was quiet for a bit and then told me he had not seen them for their sanity.

He started talking about birds and flowers.
He seemed to know a bit about these creatures with feathers.

He then told me he wanted to be a bird.
They are so free and can just fly away when things get absurd.

He kept repeating: "I am trapped, I am trapped!"
He lived most of his life having his mind wrapped.

He stopped, remained quiet for a moment, and then picked up his stuff and ran.
I decided to let me be; God has a plan.

I have been back to that area a few times.
I am ready to get him another bowl of soup; time is passing by.

I sat and waited.
I understood God's patience; other thoughts were disintegrated.

Isaiah 58: 6-8
"Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard."