Today

Today I watched as an old man bent over to pick up something off the sidewalk
His movements were slow
The arch on his back seemed to enlarge as he bent down
His knees were stiff
Leaving him to reach from the waist
It seemed a lifetime before he started to make his way back up
He studied his find
To me it looked like a coin
But I wasn’t certain on the denomination
He rubbed his face with his free hand
As wondering what kind of coin he had found
He studied it ever so closely
He then looked up
And saw me watching
He forced a small smile
Then looked back at the coin
Again, his attention seemed to dwell on me
And, our eyes met
I could see deep down into those eyes
See the little boy that once dwelt inside of him
Saw the young teen full of vigour
And I saw the young adult
His eyes told so much
They told of his achievements
His happiness
His sadness
His eyes displayed his life as if it were a motion picture
I read his entire life
In that glance
His eyes then became distant
Cold
I wondered perhaps I had annoyed him
Because of me staring
But, he seemed to look right past me
As if seeing someone else standing where I now stand
I wondered what he was thinking
What he was seeing
As he stared right through me
I watched as this old man
Who was so feeble
Barely putting one foot in front of the other
I watched as he again examined his coin
A find to him
Yet it was nothing to all those that passed by the same coin
The coin seemed to draw on his memory bank
Bringing his past into the present
I would loved to have asked him what he was thinking
Would have loved to have heard his story
Heard about his life
But as I was dwelling on the thoughts
He turned and dropped the coin again
And walked away
I walked up
Picked up the coin
Reading the back of the coin
V-E-Day
V-E-Day

Gail Adams April 26th 2011