“Neutral ground” is the New Orleans term for the street medians that line the city’s great boulevards. But how can one be neutral about the issue of homelessness?
The elderly gentleman leaves at four
and heads for the St. Charles streetcar.
He has walked this way before
but today he doesn’t get far.
He often recalls a thing he passed
but this is extraordinaire.
Rarely has the scenery surpassed
this view in the brightly lit air.
Through the lawn on the median strip
are great bouquets of flowers.
And the grass glimmers as if lit
by dew in the morning hours.
This sight is just so marvelous;
he must pause to relax a while
and admire beauty so wondrous,
his heart is an open smile.
He is happy and content
as he finds a place to sit down.
He just wants to rest a bit
before he makes his way uptown.
He dozes, but who can blame him?
Maybe the man walking out the door –
three hours later at 7:00 a.m. –
grimacing at this eyesore.
The magnolia blossoms on the ground
are nothing but wadded up trash.
And the dazzling dew you see all around
are pieces of broken glass.
On the neutral ground sleeps the homeless man
passed out at the break of day.
And the working stiff can’t understand
how anyone could live this way.
But that’s how it goes in New Orleans,
place of blight, beauty, decay, and charms.
One sees a nightmare, the other dreams,
sheltered and serene in God’s arms.
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Photo: Pixabay