Homeless Christmas Day
Homeless Christmas Day blog post
Darren O'Connor, who contributed to this blog during the Toxic Masculinity Series, shows his activism values regarding homelessness with the following:
A Poem by Darren O’Connor of Boulder, CO
(An adaptation of the classic poem “T’was the Night Before Christmas”)
T’was the night before Christmas,
And all through the house,
Not a creature was freezing to death,
Not even a mouse.
Stockings were worn,
In sleeping bags with care,
Hiding in shadows, to avoid a police scare.
Our neighbors were hidden,
Snug in their beds,
While visions of not getting kicked awake,
Danced in their heads.
And mamma in her 'kerchief,
And I in my cap
Had just settled our brains for a long outside nap.
When suddenly the police,
Made such a clatter,
I ran from my hiding space,
Because just existing.so matters.
I sprang from my warmth,
And quick did I dash,
Exposed myself to the cold,
A criminal for possessing no cash.
The moon on my breast,
In New fallen snow,
Exposed me to the police,
Who just went with the flow.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear
But a well hidden bed,
So that I might not fear.
With a little old blanket,
So warm and so thick,
I knew in a moment,
I'd avoid hypothermia quick.
More rapid than eagles,
The police did they came
And whistled, and shouted,
and called me by name!
"Now homeless, now frozen, now seeking just fixins!
On streets! On sidewalks! On Christmas o'. Dickens!
You can sleep on my porch!
Or in my apartment hall!
Hide away, away, hide away,
From the cold arm of the law!"
