Finding The Other

 














FINDING THE OTHER

Here I wait; I’m all alone

Across the world and down this street

Amidst a swell of strange refrain

Amongst the dead

And lives seared with pain

Here I sit without a sound

Behind the walls I dare not leave

I’m left to ponder, left to pray

I see your faces

You’re so far away

But I’m not the only stranger

To walk these streets in wonder

They seem to ache to know themselves

And cast their masks asunder

I lay here, up in this room

Just not quite shielded from the noise

And the heat of the afternoon

Surrounded by

A contrived cocoon

I’m the one that can’t belong

A nameless face that walks their streets

What could possibly bring me here

Behind their eyes

Hides a curious fear

It’s here aloof I must remain

Imprisoned by the mark I bear

Even betrayed by the words I speak

Bound by the clothes I wear

The strangeness that they see in me

I see reflected all around

They trade their culture and their pride

To imitate

A place they cannot find

And though they might trade earthly names

To escape these streets they know so well

They could not sell that place in side

That calls them home

To their children’s side

And so they’re left to wonder;

The sun sets on another day

And I must leave, I must go home

And so must they

So as I sit my mind reflects

The blessing that has brought me here

Masked as a tribulation

A derelict

Cast upon an unknown shore

 

Is the gulf so deep and wide

Can there not be a bridge conceived

To bring me closer to Lazarus

A place where fear

Is dissolved by trust?

And then I see the face of God

I see the children love each other

And then they turn and welcome me

Accept me as a brother

And love me as a brother

Stewart Brewer

Chiquimula, Guatemala

July 22, 2001