16. A Feast for the Forgotten
A Feast for the Forgotten is about the rare grace that broke through the
darkness — three starving boys locked out of their homes every summer day,
who found catering leftovers in a dumpster alley and were fed by a kind
stranger at a Special Olympics event, discovering that even when the people
who should have loved them failed completely, God had not forgotten them.
By Thomas J. Allen, © 2026
Spoken Word
"Get out of the house. Don't let us see your face until dark."
That was the rule of the summer.
Locked out in the brutal heat, I'd walk back to my old neighborhood,
Just to meet up with my two cousins.
Turns out, they were kicked out, too. Told the exact same thing.
Three starving boys, wandering the streets together.
But even when the world abandoned us... God did not.
Verse 1
Kicked out the front door, forced into the blazing heat,
I'd walk to the old place, just so we could meet.
Found my two cousins, locked out the same as me,
Nowhere to go until dark, a hungry, wandering three.
Then we found the alley behind the catering hall,
A hidden kind of mercy waiting by the wall.
Silver tins in the dumpster, thrown away that day,
And crates of half-drunk sodas to wash the pain away.
Pre-Chorus
We sat there in the dirt, but it felt like a throne,
Drinking from the bottles, no longer so alone.
We ate like runaway kings, happy in the dust,
A sudden burst of grace in a world we couldn't trust.
Chorus
When the doors were locked, Heaven left a key!
A blessing in the wasteland for the forgotten three.
We had nothing in our pockets, nowhere else to go,
But God laid out a table in the shadows down below.
Through the hunger and the heat, and the cruelty of the park,
He kept us breathing... until it was dark.
Verse 2
A few days passed, walking up from the bay shoreline,
The summer sun was heavy, but the air smelled so divine.
We followed the sweet smoke blowing on the breeze,
To the twenty-sixth street football field, begging for some peace.
It was a Special Olympics day, tents upon the grass,
We stood at the edge of the fence, watching the people pass.
Hungry and exhausted, heads bowed in the heat...
When a man walked right up to us, out there on the street.
Pre-Chorus 2
He looked at us three boys, he didn't turn his head,
"Eat all you can hold," the kind stranger said.
Burgers and the hot dogs, we ate till we could burst,
A moment of salvation that quenched our endless thirst.
Chorus
When the doors were locked, Heaven left a key!
A blessing in the wasteland for the forgotten three.
We had nothing in our pockets, nowhere else to go,
But God laid out a table in the shadows down below.
Through the hunger and the heat, and the cruelty of the park,
He kept us breathing... until it was dark.
Bridge
The ones who should have loved us threw us out into the sun.
But angels were waiting for us before the day was done.
We ate until our bellies ached, we drank until we smiled,
A temporary heaven for a broken, starving child.
Chorus
When the doors were locked, Heaven left a key!
A blessing in the wasteland for the forgotten three.
We had nothing in our pockets, nowhere else to go,
But God laid out a table in the shadows down below.
Through the hunger and the heat, and the cruelty of the park,
He kept us breathing... He kept us breathing!
Outro
We didn't mind waiting for the sun to go down...
Because for once... we were full.
We were blessed.
Thank you, Father.