Many churches today 

have a food pantry that never

had a pantry before.

 

I attend a church like that.

Some folks are well-fixed, 

others poor, most betwixt.

 

Some had money before

but not enough now to pay 

the mortgage and then buy food

 

so the pantry helps them

the same way it helps clients

it has helped for years.

 

Some folks in the pews quietly

support the pantry with 

checks and canned goods

 

enabling the nouveau poor

to stand in line with the 

forever poor on Mondays. 

 

A neighborhood baker slips 

into the church Sunday mornings

just prior to the end of service

 

and quietly stacks his trays

of unsold bread in the dark foyer. 

He says nothing and disappears.

 

No one seems to know

who he is but the hungry

love his bread and word

 

of its excellence has reached

the woman who leaves church early

and always grabs two loaves

 

of French baguettes and is

out in the parking lot long

before anyone else and

 

drives off in a red Mercedes.

Perhaps she’s on unemployment, 

low on food stamps or is still

 

making payments on the car.

It’s not for the usher to ask.

I simply hold the door. 

 

-- Donal Mahoney