The artist of this painting, David Davio, was eulogized as one of the casualties of homelessness at the Annual National Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day Service in Hyannis in 2013. Artwork published with permission from Homeless Not Hopeless, Inc.
 

Christmas (revised & revisited) by Colorado T. Sky

The old woman wheels a shopping cart
Containing all she owns
Down a dismal city sidewalk
Greyly paved with ice and snow
And the eight-track tape loops carol gaily
As the holiday lights the malls
And a Volvo plows a puddle
And splashes her torn sneakers
With the detritus of Christmases
So very long ago

Down a sullen city alleyway
A silent figure creeps
Lean and mean and just fourteen
Looking for a place to sleep
Rummaging through the dumpsters
Scavenging something to eat
As the wind blows brightly-colored paper
Along the ground around his feet

In the lee of a trashcan rampart
Underneath a cardboard sky
An ancient hero settles in
To lay down, as if to die
Ignored by the land he swore to serve
And a monolithic bureaucracy
His Silver Star shines grimly dim
On his “welcome homeless” travesty

But whatever happened to the kind of Christmas
That came at Christmastime?
Riding on an electric train
In the window of the five-and-dime
The spirits of childhood Christmases
Seem all to have faded away
Riding through a shattered dream
In the shadow of a one-horse sleigh.
(1994/2010)

Help homeless men and women get off the street by…

• Providing shelter including kitchen facilities.
• Training them to deal with medical, psychological, spiritual and addiction issues.
• Helping those who are capable to find employment or volunteer their time.
• Facilitating acquisition of financial assistance for residents.
• Teaching goal setting, occupational and life skills that will lead to independent living.
• Educating and advocating for the needs of the Homeless Community.

Watch A Miracle on Cape Cod, a video about Homeless not Hopeless, Inc. which “offers a hand up, not a hand out” to Cape Cod’s homeless community.

Read the Homeless Not Hopeless 2015 Holiday Newsletter to see just how far this organization is taking those it works to help!

Call for more information about Homeless Not Hopeless, Inc. please 508 957 2334

To show your support or to make a donation please visit this link: http://homelessnothopeless.org/support/

CWO publishes this poem annually with kind permission from the formerly homeless Hyannis poet Colorado T. Sky as a reminder to remember our homeless neighbors this Holiday season.