Boy in Glass

It would seem there was this boy
He lived in a house of glass
Somewhere way above the ocean
Where below him all he could see
Was roaring, rippling waves
And above him only sky and clouds
And the warmth of his father, the sun
And the protection of his mother, the moon

And the stars…oh the stars at night
They were all his friends
And he had names for them all
Bill and Charlie and Mary
And he would spend many a night
Just imagining he was up there playing with them
Dashing across the endless field of black
Yelling and jumping…twinkling
A glow bright enough to enlighten the world
But the boy had never known the world
Or the richness of the earth’s fertile
For his feet had never touched it
Or danced upon it
All his life and all that he knew
Was that house of glass upon the ocean

Mind you…it was a nice house
With a comfy bed and nice soft fluffy furniture
And a nice big television so that he could view
That world upon dry land he would never know
All those so many different people
He would never see or meet or touch
Or talk to in any sort of real way
He could just put his fingers on the screen
And pretend to feel what they might really be like
The angels would come visit him every day to care for him
Bring his meals make his bed…sing lullabies
And he would ask them every time without fail
“What is life like out there…beyond the waves?”
And they would smile at him and say “shhhhh!”
And they would assure him that he is so very blessed
That he would never have to know
And they tucked him in at night and gave him a soft sweet kiss
And he would sleep and dream of worlds of glass…

And then one day he awoke…enraged…
All hot and tingly…barely able to breathe
It felt as though the walls around him were closing in
And he screamed a loud and unbearable scream
And his glass house it shattered

And he fell far and deep into the ocean
Where a whale broke his fall
And carried him way way off
And dropped him on a sandy shore, unconscious
When he awoke he felt the strange sensation of the sand beneath him
It was wet and squishing between his toes
He had never known dirt before
And this made him smile
And he ran round and round in the sand
And looked up high into the palm trees
To see the green leaves blowing gently in the wind
A subtle windy song…
About peace love compassion
All the things the world could be
He tried to hum along
But he wasn’t quite sure he knew the tune
It was then that the little girl ran up to him
She grabbed hold of his hand
And this made him feel so alive
He could feel his heart beat now and
His fingers touching and his eyes seeing
As if they had never seen or felt before
The girl spoke. “I have been waiting for you
For so very very long”
And she pulled on his hand
And they ran way off the beach
Deep into the lushness of the trees and the jungle
Leaving behind a beach of empty sand
With little shards of glass glistening in Father’s sunlight.