I sat upon a lonely bench letting the night pass by <br />listening to the murmuring moans behind each shuttered eye <br />people anonymous with their thoughts invisible out of reach <br />on conveyor belts of motion a void of sight and speech <br /> <br />lumbering on shuffled shoes in a coat of coal shed black <br />he loomed into my presence sitting slowly curling back <br />you could feel his weight relax and sag as if he'd walked for miles <br />his thick white bearded face then turned releasing toothless smiles <br /> <br />I saw his eyes were gleaming with a joy I can't describe <br />so I nodded to his warming grin acknowledging his vibe <br />no two words were spoken as we sat there side by side <br />just acceptance of each other in the turning of our tide <br /> <br />across the floor a burger bar was closing for the night <br />the man kept looking straight ahead and then to his delight <br />a baseball hatted youth appeared with a bag of steaming chips <br />they both shook hands with kindly pats again no words from lips <br /> <br />before he even took one bite a weathered hand was raised <br />offering all he had to give a gesture which amazed <br />a lump hit hard in the back of my throat and tears began to well <br />as this true person who I'd never met began to cast his spell <br /> <br />Humbling is a sense I'd heard but never really felt <br />but now in this untimely place my heart began to melt <br />you see this man had nothing, yet everything was his <br />a world which had denied him once now accepting of what is<br /><br />Charles Beaty<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-humbling-moment/
