Here's to...

Red Rubber Boots

The world was a stormy sky
No color to be seen in people's eyes
Grey and cold
Streets of old
Boring jobs for boring lives
Everyone was tired and
anger was their demise.

But then one day a miracle happened,
a little girl wearing
bright red boots appeared.
She had thoughts in her head
to tell the living dead,
but no one wanted to hear.

She pursued everyday,
walking those streets of the
mundane,
bright red boots splashing
in the rain,
cold stones clicking under her feet.
Dreams of gold
did she have in her mind,
Every minute, every hour,
but no one would spare her any time.

Year after year,
she tried
to show her aspirations
to the world.
Rejected and mistreated,
her heart was beaten,
and she soon began to fade away.

Her burnt umber hair dimmed to a fawn brown.
No one turned their thoughts around
and decided to lend an ear.

Her tan skin turned into white porcelain,
not one soul stopped to think.

Days were like clocks.
Every time someone stopped,
it was a minute wasted of their lives.

Only the bright red boots stayed true
to the color they always knew.
Never changing,
only constant,
in the cacophony of the dimming future
of the lonely little girl.

Then one fateful day,
she completely faded away,
thinking no one cared.
But once gone,
she was proven wrong,
for the people truly valued her.

On the mournful day that
she went away,
everyone noticed the missing presence.
They searched the town
looking around
to find the one light that was
in their lives.

They found the pair of bright red boots
sitting on the stoop,
right where she usually slept,
but the girl was missing
and guilt filled their minds
of never giving her the time
in their thoughtless, hopeless lives.

A man picked up the pair of boots
and then began to cry.
A mournful woe filled all the hearts and homes
of the people who carried her boots in tow.

They could not decide
of what to do with the boots
of the girl,
for they knew they were the cause of her
demise.

A shoeless beggar child walked up
to the quarreling adults
and said with pleading in his eyes
"Please, might I try them on for size?"
They felt pity and handed him the boots,
the last memory of the little girl's life.

The small boy slowly put them on.
His brown muddled eyes widened.
They asked him what he saw
He quickly stated he could see a
rainbow of colors
surrounding them all.

The people were wonderstruck
for the first time in their lives.

An old man wanted to try them on
and see with his own eyes.
The boy slipped them off
and the old man began to
stick his large foot into one.
It was a perfect fit
to everyone's surprise.

They asked him of what he saw
The old man never responded to any of
their calls.
He only stared around with
a bewildered gaze,
his eyes were shining and glazed.
They inquired again.
This time he answered
in a soft, gentle voice.

"Its truly wonderful.
I can finally see
how wonderful
the World could ever be."

All was still,
not a sound was heard,
no one uttered a single word.
The thought as plain as it could be,
shattered the hearts
of the society.

A tear trickled down
The man's grizzled cheek.
"I now know what she felt.
Lonely, forgotten and weak,
but the only thing that helped her
survive was
The colors that filled her eyes.
The wonder and imagination
That surrounded her mind
Now shows me how empty is mine."

The people of the world realized how
tedious their lives were.
All wanted to be exposed
to the beautiful sight.
The trying on of boots
lasted the whole night.

Society was now different
The world was changed
It would never be the same
All because of the small,
yet important part
that the little girl played
in the people's hearts.