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TITLE: Safe Harbour
AUTHOR: Danielle Steel
PUBLISHER: Bantam
COPYRIGHT: �2003
ISBN: 0 593 05011 8
ABEB Version: 3.0
Created: 2004/9/17 @ 18:47

An mdf Scan & ef Proofread.

Safe Harbour
Danielle Steel


To my incredible, wonderful children, Beatrix, Trevor, Todd, Sam, Victoria, Vanessa, Maxx, Zara, and

Nick, who keep me safe, happy, and loved, and whom I love so much, May you ever be a safe harbour

for each other.

And to the angels of �Yo! Angel!�:
Randy, Bob, Jill, Cody, Paul, Tony, Younes, Jane and John.

with all my love,

d.s.
The Hand of God

Always with a feeling


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of trepidation,
excitement,
fear,
the day comes
when we go out
to God's lost souls,
forgotten, cold,
broken, filthy,
and occasionally
though rarely clean,
brand new on the streets,
with still clean hair,
french braided,
or faces cleanly shaven,
when only a month later,
we see the ravages of days,
the same faces no longer
quite the same,
the clothes
beyond repair,
the souls beginning
to tatter
like their shirts
and shoes
and eyes
�



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i go to mass

and pray for them

before we leave,

like matadors

entering the ring,

never sure what the night

will bring,

whether warmth

or despair,

danger or death to them

or us,

my prayers silent

and heartfelt,

and then at last

we take off,

laughter ringing

like bells around us,

as we watch for the faces,

the bodies,

the eyes looking for us,

they know us now,

they come running,

as we jump out

time and time

and time again,

hauling heavy bags


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behind us,

to buy them one more

day,

one more night in the rain,

one more hour � in the cold,

i prayed for you �

where were you?

i knew you'd come!

with shirts plastered

to their bodies

in the rain,

their pain and their joy

mingling with ours,

we are the wagons

filled with hope

in a scope we cannot

measure,

their hands touch ours,

their eyes digging deep

into ours,

god bless you,

the voices sing softly

as they walk away,

one leg, one arm,

one eye,


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one time,
one life they share
with us for a moment
on the streets,
as we move on
and they remain
etched in our memories
forever,
the girl with the scabs
all over her face,
the boy with one leg
in the pouring rain,
whose mother would have
cried to see him,
the man who put down
his head and sobbed,
too frail to take the bag
from our hands,
and then the others
who frighten us,
who come prowling,
watching,
trying to decide whether
to pounce or participate,
not sure whether
to attack or thank,



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their eyes meet ours,

their hands touch mine,

their lives intertwined

with ours,

like the others,

irrevocably,

immeasurably,

and in the end, finally,

trust is our only bond,

their only hope,

our only shield

as we face them

again and again,

the night wears on,

the faces endless,

the seeming hopelessness of it

interrupted by the briefest

of moments

when hope is born,

and a bag full of warm clothes

and groceries,

a flashlight, a sleeping bag

a deck of cards,

and some band-aids,

a sign of dignity returned,


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their humanity

no different than ours,

and then finally

a face with eyes

so devastated and devastating

it stops your heart,

it breaks time

into tiny fragments

until we are either

as broken as they

or as whole,

no difference between us

anymore,

we are one

as the eyes search mine,

will he let me claim him

as one of ours,

or will he step forward

and kill me

because hope is too far gone

for him to seize it.

why are you doing this for us?

because i love you, i want to say,