Somewhere In Between

Tonight someone took a break from the

doom and gloom on the nightly news, took

one last sip of coffee, and

strolled across town to see the house he grew up in. 

Nothing was different, except the

colour, the

new fence, the

family now living in it. 

But it was still the same old wooden house;

and as nostalgia settled in

and tears rolled down his face,

 his soul smiled.

Tonight a stranger’s day was brightened

with nothing but a

look and a smile. 

Sometimes we

forget where we are,

who is near and

what’s at stake

and for a moment

we allow ourselves to

feel like Atlas. 

We let the weight of the world

rest on our shoulders and

 it’s on days like those that

sometimes, all it takes is a

look and a smile.

Tonight in an alley a

few blocks down,

someone got robbed.  And

as a young man sprinted off into the night,

the police gave chase. 

It’s a frightening truth to

face that times are changing, when

not too long ago anyone could

walk around until

the wee hours of the morning.   

But jobs are

increasingly harder to find,

and it’s so much easier to

take from someone who already has...

and sometimes has very little.

Tonight, friends are singing at the

top of their lungs as they

walk home drunk,

holding hands,

reluctant to let go of the

good times they’ve just had

before they must retire to

one bedroom apartments,

6am wakeup calls

and a day spent at a

nine to five

before they can all meet up again.

Tonight, on a deck,

in the middle of a subtropical jungle,

a boy counted

205 shooting stars

in the span of 2 hours; and

for every single one of them,

he wished the same wish...  

Now, this is not the

typical wish made by a 9 year old... but

this is not your ordinary 9 year old. 

Behind his

boyish excitement and

the warmth in his eyes

is a heavy heart. 

A heart weighed down by

civil war and genocide,

a heart with but one wish:

Peace.

Tonight, a mile above the Atlantic Ocean,

in anticipation of a

forthcoming inquisition,

a young man dreamt of freedom;

freedom from biases,

or prejudice. 

At this precise moment, a

young woman also dreamt of freedom;

freedom from mental and sexual slavery. 

And at that very moment,

two perfect strangers from

very different clans

found Nirvana

and were reborn.

Tonight after many reclusive years,

running from his fears and

painful memories, after

many nights spent on

park benches,

warmed only by the

thought of home

and a flask of whiskey;

 after many months bouncing from

odd job to odd job with

no care for a stable future;

after one too many bar fights;  

the prodigal son found himself returning home.

Tonight two lovers’ eyes

glisten in the moonlight,

their skin becomes electric with

every caress, their

lips beckon for more with

every kiss, their

souls collide as they

stare into each other’s eyes and

a void is filled

as they share the same bed for the first time.

Tonight someone gently brushed the

long brown hair that

covered his loved one’s left ear as he

whispered three tender words,

but despite his expectations

she hung her head and

wept, as she

confessed a secret kept.

Tonight a man got his heart broken

Tonight, from behind a chain-link fence,

three dogs serenaded a

red, glowing full moon with a

crescendo of howls, and they

could care less about the

angered neighbours or their

yelling owner

begging them to stop. 

No,

they were too busy

beckoning the sun’s reprise.

Tonight, somewhere

half way around the world,

it’s now morning.

Tonight a man heavy-footedly walked away from

the round table he sat at, while

five other men drank, smoked, and laughed...

he thought of

how he would tell his

wife of 33 years that

he’d just lost their life’s savings at a

game of cards.

Tonight, on a train going somewhere,

a mother breastfed her month old child;

some smiled,

some were disgusted by the act,

others were oblivious... but the

child could not be bothered.  She

simply fed;

careless and

carefree. 

Oh,

to be so innocent...

so unaware of

worldly challenges; of

war;

religion;

rising costs and stagnant wages...

Tonight the dust was blown off the

face of an old LP, and as

the sitar on track one of side two

echoed across an empty room,

a man remembered that

we are all one and

life goes on within us

and without us.

Tonight, the police gunned down a

14 year old boy as he

ran from a crime scene, and

as he laid there in a pool

of his own blood,

clasping 5 dollars in one hand,

and a cell-phone in the other,

I can’t help but think of the irony...

Because tonight,

8 blocks to the east,

in an old wooden house

in the middle of the city,

as a man stares from behind a picket fence,

somewhere in between

a whisper and a dream,

a child was born.

© José V. Guerra Awe