rains fall

as if this town needs cleansing

as if a foul stench rises from its core

perhaps this the reason for

these heaven-dropped tears:

to scrub blood from the pining streets

murders are up, statistics say:

race and rape demand attention again;

drugs make cash while frying heads;

the heat from guns bake more than bread;

nearby the homeless rest in parks

while food spoils sitting on a shelf

this storm cries about us this night

dropping hints

there's something odious about

but rain can't wash these stains down drains

and down-pours never scrub the human heart

soul-tears and hands-on, along with other dreams

wash open wounds scarring the city's charts

*Every place one settles in, has what one needs and don't want.

*Generosity is the one thing that cannot admit of delay.

  -St. Gregory of Nazianzen

*Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must  be demanded by the oppressed.

  -Martin Luther King, jr.

*Try again.  Fail again.  Fail better.

  -Samuel Beckett

*Reflections of Alan Jones:

  -We cannot help having minds furnished with something, so we might as well see to it that they are as well furnished as possible.

  -It is a fearful and wonderful thing to be a human being.  The theological way of expressing this truth is to say that we are made, individually and collectively, in the image of God.

  -The divine is our true form, beyond our grasp and yet in our flesh.