The Boy and the Morsel of Bread

Near the end of a long line
of tsunami survivors
waiting for their relief food
stands a 9-year-old
in his gym uniform
shivering from hunger and cold.

A policeman is walking by,
having picked up victim corpses
for the last 24 hours.
He knows not how many more
awaiting him out there
beneath mountains of rubble.
Even if a day had 48 hours,
it would not be enough.

Seeing the forlorn boy,
the man offers his coat
to cover the little shivering body
when off the pocket falls
a morsel of bread—his forgotten meal.

The man picked the bread up
and handed it to the boy.
“Eat it. The line is too long.”
Holding the bread in his hand,
the boy silently bows and thanks the man.

To the man’s surprise, and without a word,
the boy walks up the line,
the bread in his hand.
Into the box of relief food
he gently puts his morsel of bread,
then walks back to where he was.
“I’m hungry, but there are others
who are hungrier than I,”
says the boy to the man,
who stands there in tearful awe.

Atop mountains of debris and rubble
dancing bright sunlight sparkles;
for the boy’s love and care,
and his self sacrifice for others’ welfare
has brought life back to where
a moment ago all seemed dead.

O dear special boy
In utmost agony
your family loss you silently bear.
Please don’t turn away,
Please don’t hide your tears.
In our minds we see, as you see in horror,
the car your father was driving toward your school
engulfed in the monstrous wave.
In our minds we see, as you see in horror,
your mother and siblings swept away
along with your house and neighbors’

O dear special boy
We’re parts of the whole.
And each has an equal share
in gaining as in losing,
in happiness and in suffering.

O dear special boy
Your deed outshines the sunlight.
With love and care
Life on earth will forever thrive.

(Based on a story about what may have happened in Sendai during the 2011 tsunami in Japan. "The morsel of bread" was in fact a bag of dry food.)