The sandwich and the sidewalk
I saw God the other day, sitting on the sidewalk outside of the Albert Heijn.
A crown in the form of a worn and weathered grey beanie, I thought
It must be a tad too warm, but
He does work in mysterious ways.
He asked me for some change, and I told him
I used to pray to him, and ask the same.
Dejected, he asked for some food – a soft sandwich, perhaps, as he no longer had his heavenly teeth.
I got him a bacon and egg sandwich
From the bin with all the ‘aged’ produce,
Priced down to celebrate its final ‘best-before day.’
I figured it would be softened, and moistened by age.
The bacon egg combo is a classic combination, like
Man and sin, bacon and egg, man and bacon, and man and egg.
When I walked out with the soggy sandwich, a spark sparkled in God’s eyes,
A few tears on his cheeks, reminding me of the soggy bread I held in my hands.
He said he couldn’t believe I came back and provided him his heavenly lunch,
And he shook my hand, and gave me a hug.
I held him for a moment.
How did you fall so far?
Was your throne,
Your horse,
Your holiness
So high?
The taller they are, the harder they fall, and you
Were on the highest pedestal—my neck would break
If I tried to meet your eyes, your expectations, and now
I see you in your truest form.
You
Wanted so badly to be loved and adored by all,
And in turn you would grant us your conditional love, but
I guess you will have to settle
For a soggy sandwich.
Jonathan Sijl himself on his blog:
“Thank you for checking out my blog. I’ve chosen to keep the poems on my blog in a reverse chronological order – so for older poetry just keep scrolling down. My oldest poems are from November 2018 when I began this blog and got more consistent with writing poetry. Before that I had been writing mostly free verse and haiku since 2014, but quite inconsistently. Now I write it frequently, but it depends on how life is going as I am using my own life, experiences and emotions as my main sources of inspiration for my poetry. I’ve found that writing poetry is an immensely rewarding and therapeutic experience, as it allows me to explore what I feel and think and consider it from many different perspectives. I hope you enjoy my poetry, and feel free to contact me through the Contact page if you have any questions or things you would like to share.
All the best – JD”
Want to learn more about this talented young poet? You can. Click here for a guest feature article written about him by our regular contributor Lucy Olsman!