Compare and Contrast

Palm readers believe that one can tell
by reading the lines of your hands,
your rich or dreadful fortune
and the extent of your future plans.

Does this mean that one can read
one’s life through the eye of the past?
Reading the stresses of your feet
is it possible to compare and contrast?

For your feet are a tracking device,
a recorder of where you’ve gone.
On the sidewalk or through unknown waters,
your life is erased and redrawn.

Examine the feet of an American girl,
they are pedicured, smooth, and tan.
She would give anything to look just like Barbie,
her only goal, to please her man.

Caress the foot of a Haitian child,
it’s dirty and undersized and rough.
His family, too poor to afford shoes;
His supper will not be enough.

The feet of a single woman
swollen until almost blue.
Unable to see them, not sure
if the right matches the left shoe.

Callused and cracked from workboots,
Take a look at a farmer’s toes.
the sacrifice to make a living,
he most certainly knows.

Then there’s the Harvard scholar
who thought himself the prestigious rule,
Feet worn out and numb,
he waited tables to pay for school.

An unappreciated beaten girlfriend,
her foot in a solid, white cast.
Bruised, battered, and broken,
keeping her from running too fast.

The strong and nimble Pro athlete
whose feet are dressed in Nike.
Millions of dollars in endorsements
do much to ease his psyche.

A forty-year old female executive,
persistent in doing her best.
Her feet tired, high arched, and in heels
Knowing she’s always paid less.

Simon Peter, the disciple
His feet washed clean and dried.
“Do as I’ve done for you.”
Jesus has notoriously replied.

My own feet, narrow and cracked
From a life of dodging eggshells.
Where I’m heading, where my feet will go next
One must look to my hands to tell.