Covered in dust and sweat he came to the end of another demeaning work day.
Smiling when he had every right to frown, laughing when the joke was on him.
His hands blistered from the hard labor and his heart callous as well.
Each day he felt their sickness towards him take root deeper and deeper into his soul.
As he arrived home and walked through the threshold he felt like he was crossing over
from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light-
her light, her smile a balm to his soul.
He worked so hard to shield her from scrubbing floors and tending children not her own.
As she welcomed him home it all seemed worth it.
After the children were all tucked in she read Hughes, Angelou and Baraka to him.
As they lay in bed with his arms wrapped around her,
she administered this poetic balm and he was healed to go on another day.
Taken at Chicago’s Lake Shore
Related articles
- Poetry Challenge Day 4: Healing Waters (wholeness4all.wordpress.com)
- Balms Of Gilead (poetrywritersbookshop.org)
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