As has been long my custom,
I placed yesterday in the alley
Behind my house some pants
And shoes that I will no longer use
But are in fairly good shape.
I started the custom years ago
Noticing the modern day rag pickers
Peeking into the trash cans of
This upscale neighborhood for
Items to cash or use, whichever.
Likely my ancestors scavenged
Back in the old country, trying to
Meet ends at the end of the day
Or week, and a juicy item, a useful
Item, would bring some momentary,
Fleeting joy. I’ve placed old chairs,
Lamps, books, electronics (all working),
Children’s toys no longer desired,
Clothes, either ill fitting or too
Long unused. The items would
Generally disappear in short order,
And I hope whoever collected them
Had that same moment of fleeting
Joy at the score in the alley behind
The house they might admire but to
Which, at that point, they probably not
Even dare aspire. So, yesterday I placed
In the alley, ill fitting jeans and a pair of shoes,
Well made and still sturdy, but increasingly
Uncomfortable for my changing gait.
Opening the garage door later that day,
I disturbed one of the many homeless
Now wandering the streets of upscale
Santa Monica, wearing my discarded
Jeans over his old ones. He had been
Trying on the shoes and I startled him.
He jumped away, socking-footed and
Apologized, and mumbling that the shoes looked
Good, worried that I might reclaim
Them. They are yours I said, they are yours.
I backed off, and gave him room.
He sat on the garage apron, to put on the shoes. Rising,
Walking off, somewhat at speed, he call out
Thank you, and God bless. God bless
You too, I replied, and then recalled the charming
Jewish tale of the Thirty-Six righteous souls whose
Presence on the earth sustain the earth, and that
These lamed-vavniks, as we call them,
Do not know that they are those righteous souls
That sustain the world. And I thought: perhaps just
Now I’ve helped to sustain one who sustains.
Likely not of course. It is only a folk tale, Regardless,
I tried the rest of the day peering about in case
I would encounter, poor or otherwise
Decked out or otherwise,
Another lamed-vavnik.
If indeed my passing homeless acquaintance
Was one, as I, of course, briefly imagined,
Overly proud of my aid to a needy soul.
As he sped off, calling out:
Thank you, God bless,
I hope he was enjoying his new,
My old,
Shoes.
