You grew plants - in window boxes
and fed the pigeons we all hated.

You read outrageous books -
and discussed theology

searching for reasons
over wine

the cheap kind in gallon jugs
and walked barefoot in the rain

at dawn

and wrote funny tragic things
late at night while others slept

the sleep of the unquestioning

You greeted each dawn
with reverence and tears.

You cried at all the wrong times.
and talked of pain

until the paintings on your wall wept
You laughed

when others failed to see the jest

but not with joy or happiness
perhaps with desperation

you crept among the shadows
and wore the pain of others

more personally
You comforted those who hurt

and carried them with you
until they could stand again.

Then turned them free..

People said you were crazy
and talked a lot of you .. at dinner

You were an anecdote
amid the glitter and the lies

they told each other...
But I think you were just honest

and afraid - a lot ...
Caught in the wrong time

Afraid to trust

or love

Searching for a way to live
in peace amid the blind.

-denise-