Recognition

Poetic Parable

In the incoming light of dawn

A nascent pink like a baby’s skin

Illuminates the old man beneath

The spreading oak, for all to see

And in the day that follows

Many walk the dusty road

But no-one stops to say hello

Until the day is nearly done

All day the old man sat and when

The sun began to go down and the

Pink light appeared once more

A little girl stopped and looked

‘Are you lonely?’ she asked

‘I was,’ he replied ‘but that is

How the world is until one

person sees your light’

‘Only children can see me,’

He went on, ‘or someone with

A child’s heart. That is rare now

But some day all with be like you’

The girl smiled in recognition

‘Master,’ she replied ‘I have

Always known you and always will’

The old man stood, and bowed

He knew he would not see the

Girl until another life, another form

But they both knew sometimes

A single moment can last forever

© Simon Heathcote