Stranger On A Bench

As I sat at my desk one afternoon my

mind wandering from self-imposed tasks

The sun beating down with a smile

I happened to glance outside my

window and was arrested by the sight I spied

Down below on the old wooden bench

By the canal, just outside my fence

Sat a strange man in an orange jacket –

A stranger on a bench

Unaware he was being watched

He sat there in meditation

An enviable calm claiming his face as

He drank in the sights around

Him with complete absorption

Being no stranger myself

I watched him with vague contempt

Wondering what he saw in these parts

That warranted such intent

The longer I watched however the

Less my contempt grew

While deep within a different

Feeling stirred anew

As I kept looking I became

Aware of a strange development

Sights and sounds until now as familiar

As one’s own raiment suddenly

Seemed no longer mundane

My wandering mind found in

That stranger an unexpected kin

And abandoning my workaday thoughts I joined

Him as he journeyed the land he was in

New sights came to the eyes, new sounds reached the ears

The rustling of the leaves, the pigeon on the roof

The far-off sound of a barking dog, the crying of a petulant child

Shimmering reflections in the water, the gentle swaying of lily stems

All these and more created a melody soothing and clear

And I drank in the music being played by this

Orchestra conducted by an unseen hand

Putting on a show peaceful yet grand

A quiet calm descending on me as

I enjoyed this welcome reprieve

I don’t know what it was, a

Sudden chill in the air or the

Thought of deeds unfinished

But all of a sudden the man got up

Jerking me back to my desk as he

Made ready to leave

As I watched him go however

I couldn’t help but wonder

If each of us stuck in our personal trench

Could do now and then,

with a stranger on a bench.