Flowers

Standing on the side of the road dressed in tattered baggy clothing. His hair falling in rough dirty curls around his face. He smiles, clutching a large bouquet of flowers. The white blooms drop in the summer heat. Each one hanging down like large bells. I slow to make the corner on my way to work and my eyes pass over him. For a moment his presence is captured in my mind. I can feel his joy and wonder as he finds a safe place for his beautiful flowers. He wedges them into the slates of a public trash can. Protected momentarily from his own grimy hands. I continue to drive on, thoughts of what these flowers mean to him fill my head. A weary sadness curls around my heart and possesses my soul. Perhaps flowers will be the cure.