Dormant And Active.

I remember most his blue eyes

huge beacons of despair 
staring up at me sadly
from his electric wheelchair 
there was such a hunger there. 

For all I represented
in his bleak crippled view,
strutting by on two strong legs,
something he'd never do...
my arms carrying books 
four tucked under each hand 
words he never would hold 
let alone understand.

Love's sweet possibilities, 
lovely girls to caress,
worlds left unexplored
all the ways love can bless.

I held such a bright future, 
to his gargoyle of flesh 
strapped to leather and chrome
where his frailer bones would mesh,
bent with suffering and strife,
sandwiched there all his life.

A thin strand of drool,
graced his thin, bone dry lips,
Left unable to quench 
his own thirst, with cool sips
he sat waiting 
for caretakers,
outside a classrooms,
at the school I attended,
where such kids 
weren't befriended
I went off to eat lunch,
from his life so upended.

I don't know what became 
of that poor disabled boy
born so far from the norm,
with no joy forced to dwell 
dead center there amidst 
all those fate had left well,
who boldly strode by
never looking at him,
no one ever said "Hi,"
or tossed him a grin,

His parents both wanted
what his peers would all share
but they didn't spend the hours
that he spent sitting there.
they both failed to see 
that their decisions left him duped
he was a boy with a fork 
in a world peddling soup......


I now wish that I 
had offered him,
the tastes of 
life I cherised
but I walked on 
a different plane,
where his dreams 
would surely perish,
and all his 
hopes were grounded.

It had to be so 
hard to bear,
as the good life 
rolled on by him
on his four wheels 
that creaked only despair.

Remember all those left disabled,
we're but one wrong turn away,
from a life that paralyzes,
all the dreams that come our way,
one fall, one dive, one bullet,
one disease that steals our hope,
so be kind to  those left disabled,
say something nice
to help them cope.
make them feel needed, 

grant then some hope.