Lessons from Raymond, the homeless man

Who I met in Missouri, and who helped me 

When I was preparing to make my journey by foot.

Lesson 1: Don’t do it.

This actually wasn’t the first thing he told me,

But I am putting it first so that well-meaning friends won’t worry.

It’s a hard life, he said. And when you fall to the road,

It can be hard to get back up again.

And even then, 

You can take the man off the street,

But it is harder to take the street out of the man.

I wasn’t necessarily set on hitchhiking.

It was simply the only option I saw.

But Raymond convinced me to make a trade

That made it possible. And so, a little car was the result,

And I see, I saw, that it is the fulfillment of a prophecy of sorts.

Nonetheless, much of what he said about the road, still applies

Since the car is not my home. My home’s along the road,

This place and that. And the car is just a way to get there.