The park bench was deserted,
As I sat down to read,
Beneath the long scraggly branches,
Of an old willow tree.
Disillusioned by life,
With good reason to frown,
For the world was intent,
On dragging me down.
And if that wasn’t enough,
To ruin my day,
A young boy out of breadth approached me,
All tired from play.
He stood right before me,
With his head tilted down,
And said with great excitement,
Look what I found.
In his hand was a flower,
And what a pitiful sight,
With it’s petals all worn,
Not enough rain or too little light.
Wanting him to take his dead flower,
And go off to play,
I faked a small smile,
And then shifted away.
But instead of retreating,
He sat next to my side,
And placed the flower to his nose,
And declared with overacted surprise.
“It sure smells pretty,
And it’s beautiful too,
That’s why I picked it,
Here it’s for you.”
The weed before me, was dying or dead,
No vibrant colors, orange, yellow or red,
But I knew I must take, it or he might never leave,
So I reached for the flower and replied, just what I need.
But instead of him placing,
The flower in my hand,
He held it mid-air,
Without reason or plan
It was then that I noticed,
For the very first time,
That weed toting boy,
Could not see, he was blind.
I heard my voice quiver,
Tears shown like the sun,
As I thanked him for picking,
The very best one.
You’re welcome, he said,
And then ran off to play,
Unaware of the impact,
He’d had on my day.
I sat there and wondered,
How he managed to see,
A self pitying woman,
Beneath an old willow tree.
How did he know,
Of my self indulgent plight,
Perhaps from his heart,
He’d been blessed with true sight.
Through the eyes of a blind child,
At last I could see,
The problem was not the world,
The problem was me.
And for all those times,
I myself had been blind,
I vowed to see the beauty in life,
And appreciate, every second that’s mine.
And then I held that wilted flower,
Up to my nose,
And breathed in the fragrance,
Of a beautiful rose.
And smiled as I watched that young boy,
Another weed in his hand,
About to change the life,
Of an unsuspecting old man.
