Wholly Sole
JUWC Submission
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
You walk past, nose in the air like I farted in your face. If I step into your path, you change direction without even blinking. I know you see me but you refuse to acknowledge me. If I put out my hand, you react like it is some discorporate object floating in front of you. You might think living as I do is death. But I’m real, not a fucking ghost, although you’d probably shriek like you’ve seen one if I touched you.
Under the dirt on my skin, under the second, third, fourth hand clothes, under the shoes too large on my feet and the jacket too small on my back, I’m the same as you.
I breath the same air. I hear the same birds. I look to the same church when the bells toll the hours. I avoid the same traffic, drink the same water, shelter from the same rain and pray to the same God. I could go on and on, listing the similarities, if you could be arsed listening.
I know if I tried to talk to you, tried to open up and show you how similar we really are, you’d call the police, have me locked up, citing me as hopeless, hapless, horrendous and haggard. But the only difference between you and I now is I no longer have the worries you do. I have more base concerns like food and shelter, finding a safe place to sleep or a private place for my ablutions.
If you do see me, it is my eyes you notice. I know what you think when you see them. You think “those are the eyes of a man who has lost all hope, a man who has lost everything of value in this world”. If I could say anything to you, I would only say you’re wrong. I see things as they clearly are, not shadowed by modern concerns, jaded by modern devices and pained from modern life. I see more clearly than I ever did.
I can see past the pain of my empty, lonely childhood. I can see past the pain of a life you call ruined, the pain of a career I had and lost, the pain of losing the love in my heart for the love of in a bottle, the pain of losing my suburban security and the closed-door, double-bolted living you call safe and relaxed. I can see past all this, over your shoulder and to what is following you.
I can see it clearly. It is right there behind you. But unlike me, you are too far gone to even notice. But if you do notice one day, if your vision is cleared, even for merest moments, I know exactly what you’ll do. Unlike the myriad modern life provides, the choices you have are very few. And if you make the same choice as I, then we’ll really be able to talk.
Yeah, then you’ll really want to know me. Oh, the things I could tell you, if you would only stop and listen.
Under the dirt on my skin, under the second, third, fourth hand clothes, under the shoes too large on my feet and the jacket too small on my back, I’m the same as you.
I breath the same air. I hear the same birds. I look to the same church when the bells toll the hours. I avoid the same traffic, drink the same water, shelter from the same rain and pray to the same God. I could go on and on, listing the similarities, if you could be arsed listening.
I know if I tried to talk to you, tried to open up and show you how similar we really are, you’d call the police, have me locked up, citing me as hopeless, hapless, horrendous and haggard. But the only difference between you and I now is I no longer have the worries you do. I have more base concerns like food and shelter, finding a safe place to sleep or a private place for my ablutions.
If you do see me, it is my eyes you notice. I know what you think when you see them. You think “those are the eyes of a man who has lost all hope, a man who has lost everything of value in this world”. If I could say anything to you, I would only say you’re wrong. I see things as they clearly are, not shadowed by modern concerns, jaded by modern devices and pained from modern life. I see more clearly than I ever did.
I can see past the pain of my empty, lonely childhood. I can see past the pain of a life you call ruined, the pain of a career I had and lost, the pain of losing the love in my heart for the love of in a bottle, the pain of losing my suburban security and the closed-door, double-bolted living you call safe and relaxed. I can see past all this, over your shoulder and to what is following you.
I can see it clearly. It is right there behind you. But unlike me, you are too far gone to even notice. But if you do notice one day, if your vision is cleared, even for merest moments, I know exactly what you’ll do. Unlike the myriad modern life provides, the choices you have are very few. And if you make the same choice as I, then we’ll really be able to talk.
Yeah, then you’ll really want to know me. Oh, the things I could tell you, if you would only stop and listen.
Layers, and layers of clothing and he's dreadlocked and has a backpack....weird but he's in the library reading which makes me wonder why he's in the condition he's in?!