Haiku

Huskies

Fur as soft as snow
Blue eyes glowing in the dark
Runs at lightning speed 

Summer

Popsicles melting
Sun glistening in the sky
Children laughing loud

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Kindness

I passed by a man every day coming back from school. He always was in the same position with that sad look on his face. Many children laughed at him, calling me mean things. I just used to walk by him, until today. I studied him today, really hard. I sat there looking at him for 30 minutes when I realized, he looked depressed. My face softened. I felt truly sorry for him. I crossed the street and said,

“Hello”

He didn’t say anything. He didn’t even look up at me. I sat beside him on the park bench. In complete silence. I was thinking hard. What could have happened to him? Is he okay? Why does he never move?

But I stayed silent. I didn’t want to bomb him with questions. Then I saw this very pretty flower. It was orange with a yellow center. It had many petals and looked beautiful. I stood from the park bench and went to pick this flower. I returned to the park bench and gave him the flower. 

“Here” I said

I could have swore he turned his head, even the tiniest bit. I grabbed his hands and put the flower in them. He turned his head at me and said 

“Thank you”

I was shocked. He could talk. I asked him the question I was dying to know

“What happened to you”

I saw him stare at me for a few minutes, then started thinking. I saw him wince as he went through his memories. He cleared his throat and started from the very beginning.

“My daughter died in a car crash, she was our only daughter. Then her husband had to be put in rehab because of that incident. That left their child with us. The child had cancer and the medical bills were piling us on us. The child died from cancer and we were almost broke. At that point my wife couldn’t take it anymore, she committed suicide” 

I saw tears go down his eyes. I felt tears on my cheeks too. I can’t imagine what he is going through. 

“I’m sorry” I said, even though it was barely a whisper 

“I am grateful a person like you came around in my life. You remind me a lot of my daughter.”

I smiled, then I told him “I am sorry but I have to go home, I will see you again tomorrow”

“Before you go, what is your name?”

“Adelaide”

“That name means Kindness”

I smiled wide. “I better go home”

The next day I went to the same park bench, but I couldn’t find him everywhere. I saw a note. It showed

Dear Adelaide,
I have thought about our conversation a lot. Then I realized it was time to let myself go. I don’t want to be stuck in a place where I am sad and useless. You helped me realize that. I just wanted to say, Thank you