Blind man

Years ago, on a bus trip home, he caught my attention…

In a bus on a cold day,
observing passengers getting on and off,
at every stop,
while outside it’s pouring.

I notice a blind man,
a walking stick in his hands
calmly and melodiously humming along,
to a disturbingly loud Hindu song played in the bus.
He’s lost his vision
but not his joyous spirit for life.

At an undesignated stop,
a school boy gets on,
taking a seat beside him,
his uniform’s completely drenched,
and he’s shivering in cold.

The blind man enquires, gently,
why is he getting soaked to the skin?
with a fatherly concern he says
please get yourself changed,
once you’re home.

From a man who’s been deprived of the faculty of sight,
there is still a little room within him,
to shower kindness and compassion upon others,
for in blindness,
he sees with his heart…




photo by : dmgifford

“A blind man knows he cannot see, and is glad to be led, though it be by a dog; but he that is blind in his understanding, which is the worst blindness of all, believes he sees as the best, and scorns a guide”
-Samuel Butler-