unrecognizable

 "Very early in the morning he came to his disciples, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified and said, 'It's a ghost!" Matthew 14:25-26a

very early in the morning,

you come down the sidewalk

with your dog who looks younger

and sprightlier than you do, 

and as we love all over the mutt

you wonder why we think

you are invisible.

around noontime,

you sit on the corner

where the roads cross one another,

a cardboard sign in your hand,

a tattered, stained jacket 

struggling to keep you warm,

and as we glance up from

our devices to check the lights,

you wonder why we look

right through you.

in the evening, we sit

in the same room with our love,

one glued to sports while

the other is reading a book,

while you wonder why

we never notice you in

them.

(c) 2023 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman