old man crossing Having a bad day, I turn the corner and there he is decked with necklaces of tiny flowers, grandpa hat and blind-guy cane – no, it's a wizard's staff of red-and-white-licked hickory. So if he's blind, how come he grins at me? – Einstein in sidewhiskers, clutching a lavender painting to his side – while he bends light, and stops the busy street. Then everything (buildings, people, squirrels in the park) tilts at a lavender angle, frail yet unafraid – as we're all caught in this painting of an old man crossing. © 2007 by Beth Stevens