The Debt

'A lifetime lies in store for you.'
he told me with a smile
'You are young and strong.
Keep looking for the things in life you want,
but be content with having the things you need.'
He had very little to show
for a lifetime of some 50 years.
A ragged blanket, some books
cooking utensils and some pictures
to hang upon his wall.
Enough food to last
for maybe two days at a time
for if you tried to keep more
it would spoil.
He taught me how to live
how to survive alone in life.
In two short weeks he became
a friend, a mentor, a source of security
in a very insecure situation.
Just as I was coming to trust him
to love him for himself
he was suddenly taken away from me
four wounds to his chest.
Killed in a grimy alleyway
for a coat and a pair of shoes
as I watched, a wretched coward
not daring to help for fear of my own life.
His face haunts me still
in dreams and even while awake
whenever I see a ragged man
living on the edge, in the alleyways
panhandling on a corner,
huddled against the cold and wet.
I give them what I can
trying in this way to pay off my debt:
the forty-six dollars that he placed into my hands
as he took his last breaths
and his soul passed on to whatever lies
beyond this world of hope and despair
joy and torment
pleasure and agony.
Gus, my friend, I will never forget you.