The Reminder

When the day finally ended I felt wet and cold
And hungry and tired for a drizzling rain had begun
While I was plowing that drove me in from the field,
The overcast brought the dark early with no setting sun.

It wasn’t a storm, there was no thumping anger from clouds,
But the slate-colored light oppressed me and after the chores
I was glad to come into the house and shed my wet clothes,
I was glad to be warm at the fire and not out of doors.

The house smelled of love in the loaves of newly baked bread,
And my wife when I kissed her snuggled my hands to her breast,
When like a cry from the world, far off in the night
We heard a train whistle, wailing, sad and distressed.

It was nothing for us and yet we were painfully stirred
By the thought of our comfort, our house on earth, of our own,
And still be reminded of all who are homeless tonight,
Of the soldiers and prisoners and outcasts who cannot go home.