Carlos

OK, so I'm not a poet, so maybe just look at this as an essay that is written with a new sentence on each line.

Carlos was a huge man, a half a man

 

Carlos was a huge man, a half a man

Left arm and right leg gone.
He walked into rooms with one crutch tucked
Under his right arm, always a smile
Stretching across his thick jaw.
Even without two limbs, he was physically powerful,
Broad shouldered, thick muscled.
Looked like he could tear through walls,
Yank down columns.

He was in our Sunday School class for a full

Two months, before he told the class his story.

Military. El Salvador.

Even though the military wears balaklavas
To protect their family, the Maras
Recognized him.
They caught him one night on his way home.
They hacked off his arm, his leg.
Machetes.
Left those limbs lying on the warehouse floor.
They told him that if he ever came back,
They would chop off his head
In front of his family.

Missionaries got him to the States,

Rehabilitation for six months.
Taught him how to use the limbs he had left.

Now, he had decided to go back to San Salvador.

His wife had gotten his daughters out of the city,
Safe in the country, but Carlos
Didn’t want to be here, in the US,
As just one more “illegal”

Carlos thanked us for our kindness.

He thanked the doctors and the hospital for
Healing him at no charge to him.
He thanked his wife for getting his daughters safe.
Mostly, he thanked God, for giving him
The peace and the strength
To go back and preach the word of salvation
To those who had taken his right leg
And his left arm.

Carlos was a huge man, a complete man,

An example for us all.