sometimes all it takes to pull us through
is a smile – from you
a simple tenderness
to remember us to whats true
a little kindness
to remind us
what the heart can do...
She describes the setting for the song:
every morning at about nine thirty i walk past tomkins square park,
where the food lines are already forming – and by the time i return
an hour or so later – the line will be endless…it is no different
from poverty depicted in the paragraphs of dickens, george bernard
shaw, dostoevsky or brecht. the derelicts, the denizens, the
dispossessed. struggling and abandoned. bundled in shabby winter
attire and eroded by the frigid temperatures. aside from the various
christian and hari krishna missions that offer provisions, it is
alcohol that for most provides the warmth and strength to survive the
elements.
they all know me. the neighborhood bums. they listen to me play in
the park when its warm – and they know they can count on me for a
smile and a hello…they are all over, on particular corners, in
different doorways. home is essentially a cardboard box.