MOSES

His name was Moses.
Honestly, his parents named him, “Moses”.
As a kid he got into a fight in a school yard,
because some boys were being bullies,
picking on this other kid – a tiny kid.
Boys will be boys.
And they picked on him after that – verbally -
and from a distance. He was a tough kid.

So he was glad when his family moved.
One day he was at a garden stuff store.
His dad was checking out lawn stuff.
He spotted these packets – so many packets –
flower seeds – but they were trapped in the tiny bags.
The pictures on the packages were stunning.
And so for the rest of his life,
whenever he had spare change,
he would buy packets of flower seeds –
with the neat pictures of flowers on the outside.
Then when nobody was looking –
and he looked very carefully,
he didn’t want anyone picking on him,
he would – yes he’s the one –
he would secretly rip open
the top of the package
and plant those flower seeds
here, there, and everywhere.
He never told anyone he did this.
And he did this all his life –
and whenever he saw flowers
freely dancing in a breeze –
whenever he saw folks stop
to look at flowers,
he would smile –
he was the one who set them free.

© Andy Costello, Reflections, 2008