Cardboard doubles
as shredded sheets
"Spare a little change,
trying to make ends meet
Just seeking refuge
from the cold and sleet"

Well, the Savior didn't have a place
to lay His head
So maybe they're closer to Him
than I am

But people see the signs
All they do is stare
Wonder, what's he done
and where's she been?
I couldn't cast the stone
cuz my record ain't clean

No one gave me
the judgement rod
And you, sir, don't look like God
Driving by
rolling up your windows and
down your nose
"Probably for drugs,"
your judgments say
"Lazy *** will
squander it away"

As if you and I
never fail, please don't forget
we've just been given
a better circumstance,
missed some unfortunate
happenstance
Do you squander love?
Waste your privilege?

We're all the same
Skin bones and blood
And I know I'm
begging for change
on the streets of human love
Forgetting I've been given grace
from the Divine
Covered by love that looks like
water blood and wine

Maybe my friend
the "homeless ***"
is really a bit closer
to the One

I used to be able to sit
And caress soft strings and sing
For hours
Letting my life slip away
by living through the bars and lines
On a page that I would write
And the notes would calm me like the hug from a father
Like a patch covering a gap
So I didn't hurt myself
Because, after all
The ends of the strings were torn and sharp
And I could have cut myself at any time
But these days
Something has changed
And I can't keep my head in the same place for more than
a few bars
Or a few notes
So I can't finish one song
Before another begins

You there,
with your body laid
& your head rested
on your tear soaked pillow.
With the stains of unforgivable acts forced upon your body.
With the scars of abusive lovers,
with sharp tongues.
  
Yes you.
You deserve love.

With your battered bones
that creak & rattle,
with somber hymns
of hidden shame & hopelessness.
With insecure tastes
in your mouth,
that make you curse your being.

Yes you.
You deserve love.

With your desperation
& all your fears.
With your desire to awaken
from your fallacies of comfort.
From the caucus of neglect
that they left you to rot in.
Even though you may not know.

You. Yes you.
You deserve love.

When I was a kid
I remember watching the comedy channel
Not in my own house, mind you
My parents were too smart for that
When I was a kid hanging out at my friend's houses watching the comedy channel
I remember
A slogan
Time.  Well.  Wasted.
And I remember thinkin'
"Oh!  Yea!  I like that!  Imma sit here a lil' longer!"
I was just a boy at the time and that's as far as the thought got
About a half-hour later we decided time was better wasted building gigantic, man-eating snowmen.
Eventually I went home
I wasted some time arguing with my parents about schoolwork, ate a bowl of cereal and wasted the next 8 hours in a comatose
I woke up to waste the next several years of my life figuring out how to waste the NEXT several years of my life
Somewhere in there someone told me I should do what I feel called to do so I wasted time waiting for a sign of some kinda magicy, Jesus voodoo
While I was waiting I wasted time reading Ecclesiastes and learned about what a waste of time it is to read Ecclesiastes
So I tried filling my time with all the things that weren't supposed to BE a waste of time but then I didn't have any time so I fell flat on my face on the edge of the vortex that is the human condition!
And I cried, "God!"
"Why do you waste your time with a foolish and selfish sinner like me?"
And the almighty, holy, infinitely incomprehensible, incredible God of the Universe replied
"Time.  Well.  Wasted."