Just around the corner near the yellow lamppost
\nThere\u2019s a red brick house with a sign on the top
\n\u201cWelcome\u201d, it says, \u201cto The Free Hope Shop\u201d<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been there often when I couldn\u2019t fall asleep
\nThere\u2019s an old lady behind the counter
\nReading a book, offering muffins and tea<\/p>\n
She smiles at you and pats you on the head
\nGives a blanket, a book and a flower
\n\u201cTreat yourself to the tea, my friend\u201d<\/p>\n
The couches are comfortable, the cat is noisy
\nBut there\u2019s always something different
\nSometimes the lights, sometimes the posies<\/p>\n
A corner is for those who want to be left alone
\nThe jukebox for ones who needs a friend
\nSpaces to heal and time to mend<\/p>\n
You can stay for as long as you like
\nCry or sing to the strangers around
\nShare a story, watch quietly peace settles down<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know how the shop is maintained
\nEverything there is free, nothing is for sale
\n\u201cDon\u2019t you worry about it dear\u201d, she says<\/p>\n
When you leave she stops you at the door
\nHands you a handwritten thank you note
\nWhispers, \u201cHope you\u2019re okay, you don\u2019t\u2019 have to ache alone\u201d. <\/p>\n
As you leave, there\u2019s one thing you should do
\nWave and smile, take the note with you
\nOffer it to someone down the road and say thank you. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Just around the corner near the yellow lamppost There\u2019s a red brick house with a sign on the top \u201cWelcome\u201d, it says, \u201cto The Free Hope Shop\u201d I\u2019ve been there often when I couldn\u2019t fall asleep There\u2019s an old lady behind the counter Reading a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75870"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75870\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76062,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75870\/revisions\/76062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}