The Good Deed

I know ... I know ... it's too early for snow ... far too early, but this horrible July heat has caused me to think ... at least fleetingly ... about snow.

That, in turn, led me to thoughts of a good deed by my next-door neighbor ... and thus the poem.

My reaction, at the time the described even occurred, went from puzzlement ... to surprise ... to that pleasant feeling you get when somebody does a good turn for you ... and doesn't want, in fact, would refuse, anything in return.

The poem tells that story.

Oh, I suppose my neighbor was grateful for the small favors we did him and his family when they had a house fire shortly after moving in. But he didn't owe us anything for our help, either.

That's what neighbors do for each other.

He was grateful then ... and I was certainly grateful for all that shoveling he was doing for me. I had been waiting out the storm, dreading the task that confronted me.

Then, suddenly, there he was, the good neighbor.

If I were to go ahead with this, I'd probably become preachy ... so, I'll just say that this one was originally published in The Christian Science Monitor:

THE GOOD DEED

All day the snow

has come sifting down,

obscuring objects

in our shaken globe,

and I'm standing

staring out the window

when I see the shape

of a person who's

obviously been driven

wild by the storm,

who pauses and turns

into someone I know

... my neighbor,

shoveling my walk.

© 2003

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Today's word: shoveling