ZAK'S PRAYER

little Zak
(just a little scrap of a chap)    
with a deep Barry White voice

enquires(as he enquires
about everything) :
“Why is your hair white? ”

listens patiently to the explanation
how after a head injury
“I went white overnight! ”

being a good Christian child
tells me he will pray for me
for the “black to be back! ”

I’m very tempted
to dye it for the next day
just to prove his prayer right

when his fervent prayer
doesn’t turn the situation around
...he frets:

I tell him
God & me
are both happy

with it
…like this
“Really? ” he asks.

“Really! ”
I affirm.
he grimaces

“Have it your own way then
but man...
it makes you look old & grim!"

I grin
tell him that
I am what I am

but that I can live with it
"Ok..!" he sighs
"...have it your own way!"

*

He was a lovely sincere child who pitied my whiteness of beard and hair. I basked in his pity...it was so loving and tender. And just where did this tiny skinny little child get that Barry White/ Shaft voice! One of my nicest moments in teaching.