From a friend/prophet:
Various churches have had a rich history of involvement & solidarity with residents & workers of Melbourne’s inner urban & industrial areas. The post War years of the ‘ 60s & 70s saw innovative & creative streetwork, mutual empowerment of residents & workers & ministers, ecumenical cooperation & trust, & high rise ‘parishes’ .
Little remains of those ministries. Workers & their struggles are now unknown, high rise families no longer have opportunities to empower ministries, theologians & church administrators keep their distance, the few ministers that are there come & go, deserted church buildings sell for a couple of million, while ‘temples’ with multi million dollar overdrafts shelter middle class congregations in eastern suburbs.
“Portrait…” was written by Phil Andrews one of those who lived & worked & laughed & cried, in one such high rise neighbourhood.
~~
“PORTRAIT OF A NO HOPE WELFARE BLUDGER – Written on the death of a neighbour”
The very word “hope”
reduced her to physical anxiety,
snapping aggression
and profuse profanities.
Hope,
her childish expectations
turning to nightmares
waiting for someone to fetch her home-
until it dawned on her,terribly,
that the Convent
was home.
Hope,
that perfidious emotion,
fading as quickly as the white wedding gown
as he left her at 20 with
grey hair
taut lips
and two kids.
Hope;
she couldn’t feel it again,
it hurt too much.
Even with the kids – so she pushed them away
until they gave up hope
because it hurt too much.
Hope
subtly persistent over the years;
the boys were off her hands –
one in jail,the other at Y.T.C.
She had her pension,
her Commission flat,
her Waltons account,
and a bloke who was half decent.
She relaxed,even smiled a little
and said things like
“let’s ‘ave a party when we get the new carpet
eh love”
or “now that we’re comfy
let’s ‘ave a holiday eh love”,
and “I hope it turns out fine
eh love”.
Hope,
the last ironic word to echo in her mind
as the tumour burst in her head,
and she died face down on the new carpet,
spilling her beer.                                          Phil Andrews. CofC Melbourne Inner City Pastor 1979.
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