(photo credit – BEV Norton)
No traffic
bus arrives early at Port Authority
Times Square barricaded
as if we are under siege
At the office
Quiet
tolling the hours
without bells
or fanfare
New Year’s Eve
It’s getting colder
is winter coming
or did we miss it this year?
polar bears on melting ice
Mississippi River flooding
people living on the streets
the young woman huddles, arms over head
on the southeast corner of
Third Avenue and 42nd Street
I see her every day
I want to know who she is
but am afraid to ask
her cardboard sign says she needs
more money for shelter
and “Happy New Year”
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
What would Emma Lazarus say today?
Shiny tourists rush past her
with children, well-fed and tan
going to see the ball drop tonight
or the Radio City Christmas Spectacular
how brave of her to write
“Happy New Year”
in black marker
in defiance of her circumstance
I hope she has one
I hope we all do
[Note: Section in italics is from “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus]
Suburban Hobo 
Beautiful!
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Thank you!
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🙂 🙂
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Powerful…..wishing us all a better year for 2016. We have to have hope.
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SUPERB!
DANKE!!
Indeed, ‘What’ WOULD Emma say?…
‘..with so many “homeless/tempest-tost/wretched refuse..” issues globally; – ’cause de jour’ after cause ‘de jour’, after cause de jour, ad infinitum…ripping at our hearts.
Best course of action, open up, “Suburban Hobo”
– A Healthy, Prosperity Laden, and relatively Joyous Neo-Year n’ Beyond tp U n’ Urz…
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Happy 2016 to you too, TC!!
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Very powerful piece of writing.
Happy New year to you.
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Thank you, Mary.
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There is always hope that things will be better.
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Indeed there is.
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