A child wanders along a school playgroundHe seeks friends
Wants to laugh and play
He wants to have fun like others
Yet, he wanders alone
As if lost
Yearning from deep within
Longing for something,
For someone
Then, he stumbles once more,
And gets up again
Continues to search
Though he’s not sure for what;
Tears have long ago dried up
Given up, then tried again and again.
Suddenly one day a little bird hops along the ground nearby
With a hurt wing
He picks up the sparrow and puts it carefully away
Safely in a small tree on a hidden branch.
Then a tear returns, runs down his face
And he remembers some words he once heard,
A stranger talked loudly by a store downtown
About “rising up again”
And someone who died a long time ago
Someone special and something about a “Cross” somewhere,
A good man who came back to life
Who is alive even today
To help us, to love us
A friend forever
Who cares when no one else does;
Some grownups laughed as they walked by,
But he listened and remembered.
So, he sat down in a corner of the school playground
As some other kids ran around in groups,
He began to talk out loud up to the sky
And even cry for this Lord
To somehow be alive to him, too
A real friend forever;
Then, it happened
Like an angel, but more
Who took him in His arms
Held him close as He spoke
“Forever my son
Yes, forever and ever.”
Even more tender words followed that have never left him
As he grew up and later became an old man.