The Unexpected

I planned for happiness today
and I found it in overcoming my sorrow.

I looked for something beautiful to brighten
the hours and I discovered it among the discarded
things nobody wanted anymore.

I prayed for courage
and it was revealed to me in
the face of the old man who
sells pencils on the corner.

It has been so long since I felt the
warmth of love’s embrace,
until today when a child, unknown to me,
ran to my park bench, hugged my neck
and skipped off to play.

The days go by, sameness upon sameness,
and I am alone without the sounds
of human interaction,
and then you opened the window of my soul,
you spoke my name.

I prayed for a sign, a signal that life has
purpose, that I might make sense of the senseless,
and my prayers were interrupted by
my beloved friend as she laid her elegant face
on my lap, her feathered tail wagging,
and with her large, brown canine eyes,
dispelled my doubts
and caused my heart to smile.