• The other day a man said these words to me:
    “Let darkness come and wash away our peace.”
    People on the street glared at him upset,
    But not I, instead I asked one thing: why?
    I watched the man as for a while,
    Trying to understand why he would which such a thing on this hallowed land.
    A mother passed, pushing a stroller and struggling to get it over the curb.
    The old man went to her, helping lift it with a kind smile.
    Baffled I watched and watched,
    Seeing the kindness that he gave.
    Unable hold back any more, I went to him and had to ask.
    “Why did you wish for the end of peace, yet help those you find?”
    He smiled down and began:
    “We wouldn’t know light if we never saw the dark,
    Couldn’t cherish peace if we never experience destruction,
    Wouldn’t know courage without fear.
    Opposites teach us to hold tight to that, which is fleeting,
    For neither can ever last forever.”
    Tilting his hat he sent me on my way,
    His words playing on in my head.
    All should know his words ring true,
    We could never understand good, without seeing bad.