by Marcus Colasurdo

When home became hunger
and worse than thirst –
rumors of work whispered
from a northern land –
from a place perhaps
beyond the sting of the locusts.
These rumors
became as the wings of a butterfly
tickling our ears.
And
so we went.
Would you not do the same?

There are times
(and may you never know them)
When toiling for strangers
who laugh at slavery
is better than watching
your children die.

Marcus Colasurdo is the author of 11 books. Over the years, he has worked as varied as Los Angeles taxi-cab driver to Job Corps counselor. He is the founder of the Soul Kitchen, a community meals and clothing program (in Baltimore, MD and Hazleton, PA) that currently feeds 400 folks monthly and provides various other much-needed items to needy folks in those communities.