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.