Soup Kitchen
I served her a meal and my arms grew long
and scraped the ground like a wanderer’s song
she quietly ate what I put before her
my empty arms came to rest
on a well trodden floor
I know you she said
we swam in a school
I fished a response from memory's pool
I am you
you are me
those were days that we knew
full of all the pretension
the fearless dimension of youth
I cannot be hungry though I might have been
I cannot be blind once I have seen
how she bears it so well
how can I tell
alone as I am in the midst of a crowd
I create my path
I reject my own vows
I will learn from her truth
I served her a meal and my heart did swell
not from pride but relief
and I hid that well
fortune has hidden agendas it's true
and there but for stories
of personal worth
goes the story of all of us
from death to birth
for who knows when life starts
who knows but the earth
when our arms reach down deeply
and bring up the song
and we’ll sing it and sometimes
get it better than wrong
