SHOES: A Poem (3/16/2018)


I can’t get the image out of my head - all the empty shoes on the White House lawn.  It is a constant in my waking hours and haunting my sleep. 

http://time.com/5198721/capitol-gun-death-protest-shoes/

Why hasn't this caused more of a stirring? 
 
Shoes are life.  They represent the journey, the travels, the destinations of their owners.  They stretch to fit; they confirm to a person’s shape.  They carry dust from where you’ve been and point in the direction of the future. 

It seems as though a great sadness settles into the shoes that will never again be worn by their owner. 
  
 
 
SHOES
by Autumn Boyet Stinton (3/16/2018)
 
Donned to protect the “souls” of my feet
Directing me forward to those I will meet.
 
Conforming and stretching to fit me just right
Responsible to be not too loose or too tight.
 
Able to fit any mood, any style, any need
Propelled from my past, to my future you lead.
 
A shoe must be filled to know its real worth
The go-between for many, a separation from earth.
 
You carry my weight and do not complain
In all sorts of weather; clouds, wind, sun and rain.
 
You’ve taken the heat and cold, the muddy and wet
Protected me from elements and all kinds of threats.
 
You are meant to be used and worn all but out
Your value not realized until one goes without.
 
A joy so simple one might miss all that you mean
Until you are empty and then great sadness is seen. 
 
Not made to be empty, not lost or thrown out
A more sorrowful sight you will see, I doubt. 
 
A new shoe holds promise if it will be used
But an old empty shoe says life was refused. 
 
It soaks in the sorrow, fibers withered with pain
And conjures up images that drive one insane.
 
The shoe that is empty and left all alone
Wreaks of despair for what once was known.
 
Nothing can fix or prevent, not me and not you
The sadness that settles into an empty old shoe. 
 


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