One Man’s Trash.

His shoes are old and worn

He bundles up in garbage bags

The shirt he wears is a streetside find

And underneath it, all are his dog tags

He holds up a cardboard sign

It reads, “Please help I’m hungry” & “God Bless”

Looks as if he hasn’t bathed in weeks

Still, no one insists he be their dinner guest

So the contents of a nearby dumpster

Becomes his supper tonight

He’s not dodging bullets or hand grenades

But rather a different war he fights

Shivering in shame he hides in the shadows

Escaping judgmental eyes of passersby’s

You may have noticed his cuts and bruises

But not the scars he hides inside

Paperdolls Photography

He warms himself by a garbage can fire

Then makes his bed on a near park bench

He pulls out an old crumpled photo

With near-frostbitten fingers he’ll tightly clench

The man who kept you safe in your home

Has no place to lay his head

The soldier who once fought for your freedom

Now fights hunger pains instead

As your family says Grace at the dinner table

A veteran goes hungry tonight

So say a prayer and befriend a stranger

Help him make what he did seem worth the fight

Society sees him as a worthless bum

But he saw you as a life to save

The absence of his right lower leg

Proves as one of the many sacrifices he made

Look closer at that old tattered coat

You might see a U.S. army patch

And with just one small act of kindness

You very well may save his life right back

So be careful with first glance judgments

And by what means a man you measure

He may be camouflaged as one man’s trash

When in fact, he’s our nation’s most cherished treasure