In the Square

crop person filling bottle with water from drinking fountain

A medicant beggar

in a town square, a medieval figure

seeks charity and finds when people

give him the time of day,

a dollar or sandwich to get by on, something

shifts in their eyes, their face:

they walk away, or sit for a while, changed, more

              at home with being charitable—

with rising hope,

perhaps, there is another way

to live, to love in the light that shines

both on this man with the gentle voice

and the glass towers

around him that he draws them from

like so much water flowing, running

to the well

a historical reversal, a moment at the crossroads,

as faith seeks its centre, asks for what

it needs—

comes into the open.

There are people who humble us by the way they live their lives. Their simple acts. They way they approach ordinary tasks with extraordinary patience and awareness of what might matter in that moment; the way they connect from their core, with the world around them and bless it with God’s love by doing so. This poem celebrates that. You can find it in my latest book of poems, “Quiet Waters.”

Published by Dayna E. Mazzuca

Contemplative Christian Poet, Author & Speaker

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