I Will Never Forget...

I Will Never Forget...

By Gloria Faye Brown Bates/Granny Gee

She came home to where she was living now
With her little bag of apples
Someone gave them to her
She didn't know how to say no

Say no, because where she lived wasn't normal
She had nowhere safe to put the apples
She knew visitors would come in the night
To steal them from her

She came home, went into her tiny bedroom
The only room she could call hers
Where to put the bag of apples
There was only one place, that was on the wall

She found a hammer, nail
Hammered a nail into the wall just above her bed
She hung her bag of apples on the nail
She went about her business, forgot the apples

That night she went to bed, fell asleep
Until she felt a sharp pain on her hand
She sat up quickly, saw in the nightlight
A big rat with yellow teeth

The pain was severe, she felt something wet
She got up, turned on the light
There was a deep gash in her finger
She looked up, on the wall was a hole in her bag of apples

She felt tears in her eyes, anger in her heart
It quickly subsided, as gratefulness settled in
She was thankful to have a place to live
A place she could call 'home'

It was given with a generous heart
From people who didn't have a lot
Yet, they shared with her, kept her safe
Thank God, she wasn't alone when she could have been

She didn't see the awfulness around her
Nor smelled the smells, she accepted with her heart
The offered kindness, no strings attached
She saw Heaven when she looked around

Thank you, Lord... for these people
Who fed her, sheltered her, asked for nothing
I'm so grateful to be here
It means the world to me, I will never forget