The boy
A pioneer
Latch-key kid
Spent afternoons with
The blind old man
The man
A product of
The Great Depression
The boy’s mind
Fresh
The old man had sight
In his youth
Lost it to disease
But
He could still see
Once powerful
Now
Dependent on the boy
To walk around the block
Together
They would play
Each other’s keeper
The boy for sight
The man for wisdom
What a team they made
The boy
Now a man
Can see
And
Not see
Like others cannot
The old man
Is gone
But
His vision lives on
© Patrick Farrell 1995
This poem was published in the Spring 1995 Bayou Review.
