St. Thomas Quaid

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He looks down upon

© Oliverio

the sky and the sea,

the birds and the three

men walking on the beach

 

He makes the clouds dance

the wall bleeds cement

and he knows 

when you are surfing

 

 

The verse above

is merely poetic praise

for a person whose generosity

and kindness defied 

human capacity

 

In seventy five years,

I have encountered countless

people who believed strongly

and sincerely in generosity

unless it was  a bad day 

when they are more likely 

to bite people

than to help them

 

But Tom Quaid never had such days

 

To qualify someone for Sainthood,

there must be evidence of a miracle

 

Seven days a week,

he went to church

 

Six days a week, Tom Quaid

carried a big fat wad of bills

in his pocket

But not on Sunday

because that is when countless Catholics

would have sucked dim dry

 

Tom Quaid was better known

and better loved than all the Priests

at St. Anthony RC Church in Long Beach

 

On Sundays, Tom was a Eucharistic Minister

meaning he administered the holy wafers

that are a symbol of the Lord's suffering

  

Here is the miracle:

A man known to have as much as $700 cash

in his pocket was never mugged, molested,

or stripped of his cash in a crime-ridden neighborhood

such as Downtown Long Beach

Gangsters of every race, color, and creed

ALL protected Tom Quaid from harm

in the fifteen years that I knew him

as a fellow volunteer in the Senior Center Library

 

Sounds like a miracle to me

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