loving in community

...and another hard part of community, i'm learning, especially ones like the catholic worker that provide hospitality, is that you fall in love with the people in your community. you bond with them and grow to be family with them, even if they just move in and you've never seen them before in your life, and even if you're pretty different people. and then you enjoy just the day-to-day of life with them, and you think about how you love just doing life with them... and then, inevitably, some of them, at least, move on... to a better housing situation, to a better job, to another place... and even when you're prepared for it, even when you know it's going to happen eventually, it still hurts, and for me, it hurts a lot, probably because i just sometimes envision this imaginary world where all the people i love live together in one place. but i guess that's what it's like, living in community, loving in community.

christmas lights

as i watch luna turn the lights
on and off
on and off
i realize that i, too,
just want to see sometimes
that the things i do
make a difference
in the world around me.