Friends Poem by Smoky Hoss

I saw an old man the other night
Who just didn't seem right,
So weary and beaten
Not mean nor bad,
Just looked like he'd had
All any man could stand.
Rough and rugged
Yet worn and gentle,
Like a person who'd truly care
And perhaps be even a bit sentimental.
When he looked up
From where he had fallen,
I saw a tear in his eye
And even a little fear upon his face,
A worried soul with a troubled mind-
Too many burdens, not enough time-
So many forgotten dreams, lost in ungrace.
I gazed upon this moment to see...
What looks alot like me.
The way we look, the way we view,
One to another, sister to brother,
Sometimes we stand, sometimes we fall,
Me-them-you
We're not so far apart after all.

Now when I look at others
I peer much closer, and try to see:
What is in them,
Is also within me.

A friend of God
Is indeed a friend of mine;
Brothers to others
Throughout all time.

For, above cloudy skies
The sun does shine, and
Somewhere out there, the amatuer poet writes grand words...
Whether they do or do not rhyme.
The human story
Is full of much glory
That the world cares not to notice,
For human kind
Is littered with self inflicted crime, and
Tis a twisted, sordid affair
As so much evil takes its share.
God alone knows
The way it all goes
When life knocks any of us down
So hard to the ground;
May we with compassion
Truly try to understand,
The lost, afraid, and lonely
Child, woman, and man.
And thereby begin to comprehend
The things people do
Are not at all perfect, nor nearly always right,
Just needs be to make it through
The darkness of another fearful night.

-Judgement is not anyones to assert,
For no mortal is able to fully understand
The degree of personal pain in the hurt.
God alone, sits on Heaven's justice throne.
Mercy and grace arrive in so many ways
Across a multitude of lives and days;
Who then is qualified to truly decide
The magnitude of evils treacherous lies,
Or the pain therein
Endured by any one human?
Upon such angels dare not even glance,
Lest they also fall into a worldly trance.
For God has already forgave
All mistakes made,
The heavy cost
Nailed long ago on a wooden cross.
Therefore, ignorant human endeavor
Is left not at all too clever;
Rather than kick-em-when-they're-down
Bend low, and lift a ' friend ' up, off the ground.
Because all it would take for Christ's sake,
To show love and compassion has already been done
By God's own son.
So dare to look ahead
Far beyond this the land of the dead,
And despise not others
Nor judge the 'different', our sisters and brothers.
We all have our burdens to bear
Pressing upon the wounds we wear;
How much better 'twould be
In love and with care
The heavy load to share,
While trying earnestly to understand why
For some 'to live is to die'.

A friend of God
Is indeed a friend of mine;
In God we are all friends,
Into and right on through
The very end of time.
When all together, forever
We shall live and dance,
And everyone is a true friend...
With a God given chance.