As I walked alone today
Along a piny trail
I met an old man along the way

He was a small, lean man
with hair of silver and gray.
His face was wrinkled but his eyes were a striking blue
Come on over young man, he said
There is something I wish to say

The old man smiled as he reached for his pipe
putting fire to the tobacco with a small wooden torch.
Then he pointed to a chair that sat out on the porch
Out in the open air.


I couldn't pull myself away,
something inside of me, wanted to hear
what this old man had to say.

His hair was gray, and his eyes were blue
and his hands were worn with age
But he sat in his chair, this old man did,
and I saw within him
the wisdom of an old, old, sage.

He began to tell me things that happened
long, long, ago.
Long before my time.
He told me about hero's and villain's,
and hate and crime.

He told me about the lessons he had learned
with the passing of time.

He told me about love and sadness
and events in his life

When he would be honest
and when he would lie
When he would love
and when he would cry.

As this gentle old man continued
I wondered how it would end

He told me he no longer hated
But learned to love

And to forgive
gave him a sense of peace

He said his heart had been touched
with so much over the years.

That he was tired of shedding so many tears

He smiled at me with those eyes of blue,
and for the first time I saw the gentleness of his soul.

Then his eyes closed, as he took his final breath
I knew then, he was called to a greater power
That I had witnessed the old man's death

When I left later that day there were two things, I took
to remind me of him.

I took his old pipe, and from his garden
I took a single flower.