Prose: Terrible State

 

Terrible State

It can be far too easy to end

up in a rather terrible state,

living unhoused, on the streets,

without doing much 

if anything to get there

on one's own, let alone

knowing how or why it happened,

nor how or where next to flee;

whether it be while wide awake or otherwise

lost within an unending nightmare when asleep;

unable to escape, feeling unsafe, 

even after finally waking; being 

reminded how easy it is to get there,

how difficult and hard it is to get away;

particularly when there is nowhere

else to turn, nor no one around to help;

languishing alone within an empty abyss,

amid great misery and immense suffering,

an hour or more later, even several years 

after the last actual, lengthy, occurrence. 

What is one to do? Where is one to go?

How does one find enough hope, 

faith and strength to continue onward,

when there doesn't appear to be any left,

either within or outside oneself?

There has never been any easy or simple

answers to these ageless and nagging

questions, except for what might

be graciously and freely offered 

by those willing to share what

they have available with others who possess 

little, if anything, of their own to spare themselves.

Morgan W. Brown

Montpelier, Vermont

Thursday, November 9, 2023

(note: fortunately, save for experiencing a nightmare,

the author is otherwise safe and warm at home;

yet knowing that there are many who are not,

during a cold night, with snow predicted and Winter

still looming around the corner; that nightmare is both

very real and quite scary for those who live unhoused outdoors;

the title and phrase "terrible state" refer to both a state

of existence as well as state of mind only, nothing else

should be assumed or inferred by their usage)