CHRIST OF MANY FACES
You know me, you've seen me before;
I'm the one you pass by.
My Face may be dirty or it may be clean.
But, my eyes are always the same.
I'm the homeless man in filthy clothes.
The one you cross the street to avoid.
I'm an unwed mother with a mouth to feed.
I have two jobs, hoping to make ends meet.
I'm a veteran who is still at war.
This time the enemy is my memory.
I'm the man with AIDS, who is afraid to die.
No one will hold my trembling hand.
I'm the old woman with no one to visit me.
My family said they would come, but no one showed.
I'm a hungry child who fades into sleep.
I hunger for more than food.
I'm old, I'm young, I'm rich, I'm poor.
I'm known, I'm all too anonymous,
This is who I am, my faces reviled.
My faces are different, but my name is love!
(A fishbowl poem - Br. Joshua, OSB)