Single Mom, 3 Kids, Lost Job

I saw you standing on the curb

My car was fifth in line

Then fourth, then third,

And then I read your sign.

“Single mom, 3 kids, lost job”

My hand reached for my purse

Even as my head was saying “No.”

After all, it’s easy to write words on a 

Piece of cardboard: 

“Out of work,”

“Just lost my house,”

“Anything will help.”

Why did my heart win out over my

Head this time? Maybe because

I saw me in you. 

I saw my mother,

My daughter.

I saw every woman who has

Struggled, for whom

Life has never been

A crystal stair.

Every woman who has been

Close to having her own

Cardboard sign.

You cried when I rolled 

My window down. I cried 

All the way home.

I borrowed a bit from one of my favorite poems by Langston Hughes. I thought I should include it here: