"Rise up and walk."
The words still ring within my ears
when I recall the day they came—
those men of God.
Throughout my childhood I had never known
what it was like to walk, and run, and play
as other children did,
but only to be carried here and there
to watch what I so often longed to do.
And as the weary passing of the years
brought me at last to manhood, with it came
no hope nor future but to lie each day
outside the temple gate, where I was placed
to beg my bread from those who passed within.
And then one day they came—Peter and John
(so different from the usual heedless throng
salving its conscience with a loveless coin
or merely passing with averted eye);
from these I felt no sense of cold disdain
rebuff my plea,
but just a wealth of love
embracing me.
