A Special Place In Heaven
Like a lighthouse in a great storm,
she took on a heavenly form, because
when "my ship was so very lost at sea,"
she was so very much there for me.
Through her kind thoughts, words
and deeds, she reached out in order
to help me see that my prayers were
being heard, according to God's Word.
For, I was without any shelter in a
truly cold swelter. And so, I had to pitch
a tent—past "the dark night" of my fear—
in a nature park, right where I could hear
the comments from the many passers by
—and quite a few were really quite snide—
about the "legality" of my living situation!
And that's why I feared getting a citation.
Besides that, living out in the open was
also scary for me, which is why I simply
could not believe just how much relief
that her hope and kindness could bring.
And, thus, I can attest that all of those who
grow closer to Our Lord God through His
Everlasting Covenant to truly express His
Love for us best—by being so kind and true—
have "A Special Place In Heaven!" And
their efforts will seem well spent when
they see just how their kindness toward
"the less fortunate" was so much in accord
with God's Plan for us to expand our idea
of how we should be living in order to
receive "His Heavenly Rewards." And that
is how God's Love is shown through our
good works—just like The Lord's Hand!
-Paul Whiting
(a.k.a., Small All White in the Forest)
"I am no barrier to its sun; the light and I are as one!"
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My Writing About Giving Alms To The Poor: I budget for "carrying cash" each month in my monthly budgets for any expenses that I may wish to pay for in cash. And I budget—specifically—to use some of my carrying cash to help homeless folks who are panhandling, or "spanging" (which is a term that is a blend of the word 'spare' plus the word 'change' from the phrase, "Do you have any spare change?" or the phrase, "Can you spare any change?") and that is how I give "alms to the poor." –Paul Whiting (written December 26th, 2015, revised September 24th, 2019, revised December 23rd, 2021, revised December 24th, 2021, revised December 25th, 2021, revised December 26th, 2021 and revised July 6th, 2022)
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My Poetic Notes:
The reason that I wrote this poem can be summed up with the following statement: I wrote this poem after I was homeless for ten days in October of 2009!
And, for me, the toughest part about being homeless wasn't living outdoors, since I was basically "camping": it was the way that some people treated me, because I didn't have a place to live. [However, I should clarify that it never stormed while I was homeless, nor did it ever reach freezing temperatures; plus, I had money available to buy whatever I needed (the reader should know that I am HIV-positive and that I have full-blown AIDS) due to the fact that I am on "SSDI," or Social Security Disability Insurance.]
And while I was camping in a nature park in Portland, Oregon, I met this wonderful woman, Nancy, who offered to help me, since I didn't have a place to live!
Just so you know, I revised this poem, as I often do with my writing! And I changed how this poem was written when I was editing it on my "Paul Whiting — A Creative Writer," "Small All White in the Forest" and "Three Dark Horses" blogs. So, I wanted to show you how this poem used to be written, before I revised it as above.
And it used to be written like this:
A Special Place In Heaven
Like a lighthouse in a great storm,
she took on a heavenly form because,
when "my ship was so very lost at sea,"
she was so very much there for me...
...It was through her kind thoughts,
words and deeds that she reached out
to help me see that my prayers were
being heard, according to God's Word...
...For, I was without any shelter in a
truly cold swelter. And so, I had to pitch
a tent—past "the dark night" of my fear—
in a nature park, right where I could hear...
...the comments from the many passers by
—and quite a few were really quite snide—
about the "legality" of my living situation.
And that is why I feared getting a citation...
...Besides that, living out in the open was
also scary for me, which is why I simply
could not believe just how much relief
that her hope and kindness could bring...
...And, thus, I can attest that all of those who
grow closer to Our Lord God—through His
Everlasting Covenant to truly express His
love for us best—by being so kind and true...
...have "A Special Place In Heaven!" And
their efforts will seem well spent when
they see just how their kindness toward
"the less fortunate" was so much in accord...
...with God's Plan for us to expand our idea of
how we should be living in order to receive "His
Heavenly Rewards." And that is how God's Love is
shown by good works—just like The Lord's Hand!
Thus, I revised this poem to be written as it is above.
And this poem was also published on my "Three Dark Horses" and "Paul Whiting — A Creative Writer" blogs (please see the hyperlinks below for the blogs), since I feel that the message in this poem applies to the message I am trying to convey through "Three Dark Horses" and "Paul Whiting — A Creative Writer." Plus, I feel that the message in this poem applies to the message I am trying to convey through my new "The Oneness Of God" spiritual practice!
This poem was written in Portland, Oregon.
-Paulee
https://threedarkhorses.blogspot.com
https://paulwhitingwriting.blogspot.com
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This "Small All White in the Forest" Post No. 081 was edited on April 4th, 2026.
"Poetry is using the fewest words possible in order to describe all that is possible to describe." –Paul Whiting [June 1st, 2022]
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