Somewhere Beyond

Some mornings when I come in to unlock the gates  
Cars have already begun lining up
And headlights are oft turned on for me  
As I fumble with keys
The daily line of cars begins queing behind the first
As I unlock doors and turn on the lights
Though we won't begin giving food for a couple hours more  
 
We've found them living in an old used trailer
Parked in the front of the lot  
Or camped out in the woods
Across the tracks that run beside the building
Living on the edge of what I know
And what I don't
Others come from who knows where
Familes
Singles
The old and the young
Sometimes with children
Sometimes none
The sea and its tides
They're gone when I leave
The daily ebb and flow
Sunshine or rain, doesn't matter
Hope is often such a threadbare thing
But it still breathes
And struggles to live that one more day  
....until tomorrow.  
 
Homeless, divorced, out of work,  
Medical bills that have eaten them up...
Name your poison and it lives in those eyes
Poverty lives
Bad luck
Bad choices
They straggle in one door to sign up
Walking past the line of cars waiting for pick-ups outside
And volunteers sorting and packing food boxes inside
 
The agencies come to the other side to pick up their orders  
For food pantries and soup kitchens
Meals on  Wheels  
Shelters and retirement homes
Mostly the elderly, retired from jobs,  
And occassional pastors
Weaving between forklifts and aisles of racking
Life lines to their communities
While tractor trailers and box trucks are loaded and unload
Donations are dropped off
In a crazy ballet of motion
No day is the same
Save for the desire to do good
 
I can't change the world
But in small ways
I can change someone's day
Keeping threadbare hope alive
 
And again, tomorrow, I'll turn on the lights