I positioned myself in the Atrium at the food court tables strategically as not to be in other people's spaces As I tackled the Panda with my chopsticks an elderly perhaps Arabic couple shuffled by not a black sinister looking but an arrangement of colorful burkas or shawls that are to mostly cover their faces It was only came as an afterthought I wondered if I got up n' politely said excuse me I just want you to know in my Book you and any of your friends n' relatives are welcome here n' please forgive me it's not to be patronizing it's just with recent travel ban etc I don't want you to feel alienated by me in this supposed land of the free For though I'm compelled to arise n' go over this Jordan in The Lord's Strength Power n' Might And never of course to skimp on the bags of Truth But I'm to have my attenae up in mercy to seek the likes of Rahab who'd heard of the fame of His Name n' wanted to dwell in that marvelous Light It's as though The Lord said hey- I've already built My Bridge when I set aside My Glory to put on flesh in the filth n' mucky miry waters of this world's sesspool To simply walk up to someone or cross the street over the gutter I fished you out of as you rode along aimlessly like a popsicle stick when you still thought your sin n' substances were cool This isn't a box girder or intricate suspension project I'm expecting you to undertake It's not like the golden span from the Presidio to Sausalito or multi layered laned Bay or architecting a drawbridge or formidable one in Brooklyn I'm asking you to make But the fact is while you're safely on the shore there's others on the other side still that' re being jeered at n' railed on n' just plain hated N' I've got way too many in this sorry huddle I just need even one to break away n' not to bash 'em with deep Theology or even freak them out speaking of My Blood or romancing your scrapes n' crimes with your testimony But perhaps merely a warm invitation to say like that church potluck 'Cause there's a span-n' it's in time quickly abated. 1-31-2017 Duncan R. M. Ferguson