Individual Child

As dust in school room corners sits unnoticed by the children,
So does he
They treat him as if he was infected with some contagion
Yet he's the one who's immune

He idles alone, thinking,
While innocent-looking youths play like tigers in the school yard
He watches them dance like phantasms -
Unreal in their behavior, yet seemingly haunting this earth

No loss in this exclusion - He doesn't belong
he's different somehow, perhaps better
For this understanding crept into him early in life
And this gives him hope
And a light of love, yet more enduring
Than this missed childhood that runs out like sand before him
His time to shine will come!
Not as a follower, but as an individual!!

-Devyn (jmb 9/00)