Ragpicker

Ragpicker                                                                                   
 
The ragpicker makes his usual rounds.
Object of scorn and pity, he began
 
his profession with a rumor – a priceless jewel
hidden among rags and unwittingly thrown away. 
 
But that was decades ago, the ragpicker now
deeply settled into the routine of his life. 
 
And yet, he has a secret – evenings in his hovel,
he reads eloquent, intimate letters
 
from a beautiful daughter in a far away land –
words of fire, splendor, palpability and vision!
 
Evenings of this and, each night,
peaceful dreams follow; each morning
 
he awakens to a world of infinite possibilities . . .
and thus, renews his search.
 
For her, the unseen one,
he endures the taunts and whispers,
 
the countless disappointments and humiliations,
eking out a living, searching for the rumored jewel
 
among the rags and refuse,
the lost and discarded of this world.
 
O child of God, wrapping a jewel in a dirty rag
does not stain the jewel, nor diminish its value.
 
                              (from A Jewel in the Dust, 2011)