I stopped to meet a man today
surrounded by his walker.
He needed a little more space
to stay a stable pace
without a falter.
‘Twas to my pride
but mostly luck,
that I this time
did not deny
his slow and gnarled like gait
through said passage
that was mine to take.
He had a little hat upon his head.
Neatly folded and serenely molded.
Cloth it seemed, instead of new,
with sideways, tilted,
falling off of head.
In fact it seemed a shape to me
faintly reminiscent of the sea.
A simple shape, to be sure.
As all the ships of early were.
And from it hung some symbols pure,
and sacred too, earned and placed
with much ado.
And so I broke from shell
and cried, lest I disturb
the inbound tide.
Dear Sir, be you one that
did survive,
that hellish war
where all had died?
A glimmer shown
between those ears,
that had weathered
oh so many years.
And he and his beloved spouse,
stopped and from
his purplish heart
emerged a handshake
‘tween us two,
as I delivered
respect long due,
to an aged veteran
of World War II.
— Douglas Colthurst 2010
Tags: signs and connections
Wonderful and so needed!