Occupy the Blues

If the wet gray skies
are getting you down,
and the rain is trickling
under your coat, down 
the back of your neck,
if there is too much 
Christmas to buy
and not enough dollars,
if some of your loved ones 
are far away,
and too many Christmases 
have passed,
with too many faces
no longer around the table,
if love never arrived,
at least not in the form 
you had expected it,
take a little time to
Occupy the Blues.

Go ahead.
Feel it all and,
if you're strong enough,
widen your vision
to encompass
all of the unwanted, 
abandoned animals
who will spend Christmas 
in the SPCA,
or the creatures
who live their whole lives 
 in cages,
waiting to cross our tables,
or the wild ones displaced 
from their habitats,
then picked off when they "encroach"
on "Man's" Territory.

Are you depressed enough yet?

Just watch the news.
I know. I don't do it often,
and each time I do 
I remember why.
The humans may be 
even worse off
than the animals
in so many places.
And for certain,
the environment
is in complete distress.

I'm riding my Bus of Dreams
down the gray, rain-drenched streets
through the worst part of town -
where the disenfranchised
eke out their bare existence.
They remind me I have so much
to be grateful for.

I see them carrying 
their small packages home
with gladness in their hearts
to make a small Christmas
with their loved ones.
We all dream
the same dreams.
We all love to give.

When my heart aches
for humanity,
for this suffering
and unbalanced planet,
for the 99%,
for the melting at the Poles,

I remember that
even in its distress,
Mother Earth continues
to love us,
to provide for us,
to sustain us.

She wakes up every morning
beautiful.
She presents us 
with her best sunrises
and sunsets,
her bluest skies,
her fluffiest clouds.

When I see her resilience,
I roll up my sleeves
and get ready to
begin again.

I decide to Re-Occupy Hope.