Help

We are all in need of help. But is it the noun or the verb we need?

 

Woe is me! How can this be?

Where is that help I have sought?

Nothing but wretched know-it-alls

Come to disturb my thought – and my peace.

 

Peace? What peace?

What am I saying? Who am I trying to kid?

If this is peace then give me war

And I shall rest and sleep and snore.

 

Time passed on and matters grew worse.

I soon lost all that I had.

My friends had gone their merry old ways,

My family too was gone.

My business failed, uncertainty prevailed;

I slowly began to wrestle with myself

For a change.

 

What’s this? A knock? A tiny knock?

I haven’t had a knock since that beggar came by!

I wonder who it might be?

Eh? A whimper? A sniffing? A sobbing?

More trouble! Add fuel to the fire!

Is there no rest for the wicked?!

 

I opened the door and there stood a boy,

One hand over his eyes and one on his knee,

From where trickled blood to my doorstep!

Sir! the lad cried with tear-stained face,

I stumbled and fell just in front of your place.

I have nobody to help me.

Are you a doctor or someone to bind my wound?

 

Angered at first at the gory mess,

I nearly chased him away.

But though I knew I was only a laborer,

He had flattered me with his question.

 

Fancy me a doctor!?

“Lad, you have saved your knee,” I thought.

“Oh, very well, come in, come in.

We’ll see what to do with your wound.”

 

I bound up his leg and sent him away,

Not as friendly as I could have been.

But after all he was a bit of a nuisance

And I did give him some sweets to cheer him.

 

As I cleaned off my step

I began to think that

Though I was but a common fellow,

Yet he took my help (there was nobody else),

And he went away for the better.

 

And how was it I helped that little pest?

There was a time I wouldn’t be bothered!

Am I changing somehow or am I going mad?

I actually did him a favor – without charge.

 

It’s plain to see that though he is hard,

A change is slowly transpiring

A little more time mingled with hope;

Perhaps from evil he is tiring.

 

These were the words of the Sovereign King

As He spoke to His servant, the boy.

“You were sent to bring good news

And I thank you for your sacrifice.”

 

Lethbridge, 1984

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