(We’re focusing on poetry in my writing class this week. I haven’t written anything share-worthy yet, so I thought I’d post this treasured poem written by my brother and given to me in July, 1988. I was in graduate school and  just starting out as a therapist.)

Ode to a Third Shift Messiah*

On Her Way to Work

*Therapist for Broken Revolutionaries

Breathe in

        taste the deep dust,

Breathe out

        feel a need.

Look in a mirror

        see a guardian of dignity,

Look again

       see a savior of pride.

Accept this power.

Go out to a field,

        hold fast to your courage.

Let your eyes preach the gospel,

        let your words work great miracles.

Be a prayer.

As ashen arrivals ride down from the sky,

       and songs of descending bond with the night.

Photo credit: Werner Kunz, via Flickr, Creative Commons