We hardly know
one another now,
and yet…
One day years ago in Turkey
she stepped on an urchin
unknowing, of course,
only that it caused her
to scream and cry
and she sighed miserably
when I lifted her up, cradled her
as I ran up the hill to our home.
Setting her down
I tended to her foot,
cleaned it, bandaged it
comforted her as best I could
but the tears had already ceased
and the crying, and instead
she looked at me thankfully
eyes smiling despite the pain.
To this day I still
feel that sense of gratitude—
no, not hers for me necessarily,
but my own for the chance
to feel that at that moment
I was right and true
and trusted by one so tiny
in my eyes, and yet so grand.
George Ellington 