Dirty-faced Angels

by
Phil Cerasoli



So I’m sitting in this Texas greasy spoon, waiting for both my breakfast and the sunrise, when the door swings open and, with no blare of trumpets or angelic choir to announce the entrance, Jesus walks in.


      DIRTY-FACED ANGELS
      by Phil Cerasoli

      So I'm somewhere south of Nowhere in this tired Texas town;
      In a seedy all-night diner while I'm guzzling coffee down.
      And it's me and just the waitress who pretend we're each not there,
      As we share the pre-dawn silence with a sleepy, glassy stare.

      And then this old drunk wanders in and staggers to my side
      And I look up from my coffee at this man who's lost his pride.
      He asks me for a buck or two so he can finally eat.
      I shrug and tell the man to sit; that breakfast is my treat.

      And while he waits upon the stool for eggs and toast and ham,
      He says to me in slurring speech, "I'll tell you who I am.
      I'm Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who's risen once again;
      And I am here to wash away the sins of mortal men."

      Then the waitress brings his breakfast and the man attacks the food,
      And I guess that he's so hungry that he's lost his zealous mood.
      Then, halfway through his breakfast, he nods in drunken sleep;
      And the waitress frowns disgustedly at the company I keep.

      It's then this thought pops in my head and I wonder if God's plan
      Is to send down bands of angels disguised as dregs of Man
      To see how we respond to them and how we treat their plight;
      To see if we can help them through another lonely night.

      That may not be His plan at all; but ever since that day
      I've tried to give respect to all the ones who pass my way;
      I give each one their dignity and try to judge them not
      Nor chide them for their failures or goals they should have sought.

      And it's made a better man of me, for whatever that is worth;
      And it's helped me have a common bond with all who walk this earth.
      So if I had to pick a point in time that changed my life
      And helped me make some sense of all this universal strife,

      It would be that night I saw this drunk and laid my money down
      And bought some food for Jesus in that tired Texas town.

      Copyright 2001 - Phil Cerasoli

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