[Poem - With Recitation] - The Stranger

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A strange man came to our small town,
when I was just a child.

I watched him step down from the bus,
on a summer's day both clear and mild.

He waited for one large suitcase,
which he lifted very easily.

I saw him start to look around,
then I saw him turn and look at me.

I started when I realized that,
one eye was dark and one was light,
one like the night, one shining bright!

I thought to run, I was so scared,
but somehow I just couldn't move,
so I stood there and I stared!

Then the man turned away from me,
and I think I saw him smile.

And then, unstuck, I moved my legs,
and I think I must have run a mile!

I ran to my friend Jimmy's house,
and told him all I saw.

About the stranger with those scary eyes,
and Jimmy laughed, said "Naw!"

And I swore to him I told the truth,
and he realized I was scared.

Then he got serious and I, relieved,
saw he believed the things I shared.

So we both decided to go back to town,
two little sleuths, and look around.

We'd search the streets and try to see,
if we could figure out this mystery.

So me and Jimmy ran back to town,
and looked up Elm and down on Main,
then Jimmy asked, "Is that him there?"
and pointed at a window pane.

Reflected in that window glass,
I saw across the quiet street,
Miss Jenny's diner clear as day,
like a mirror, clear, complete.

In the diner someone sat upon a chair,
and I knew without a doubt,
it was the stranger sitting there,
and I almost yelled, let out a shout!

But Jimmy hissed, "Don't don't make no noise!
Don't raise no fuss! We don't want him to look at us!"

And so we stood across the street,
nonchalant as we could be,
and tried to look like we belonged,
and watched the stranger in his seat.

Then to our shock and much surprise,
Miss Jenny ran over to that man and
hugged him to his feet!

Right then Jimmy piped up and said,
"Hey, don't Miss Jenny have a son, who
went away to war?"

And then and there I smacked my head,
began to see what I'd missed before!

So me and Jimmy dashed across and
stood inside the diner door, bold as day,
staring up, not hiding like we did before.

With open mouths we both could see,
up that close so easily,
what I'd missed from far away,
and what had scared me stiff that day.

I saw a patch over one eye,
and that patch was dark as night,
so dark that in the broad daylight,
it had given me that awful fright.

And the man's good eye was lightest blue...
just like his mom's bright two.

The man looked down at me with that good eye,
and smiled a wide and happy smile.

And I stood there, not afraid but glad somehow,
and that moment seemed to last awhile...

Then Jimmy turned to me and said, "Well, I
guess you was scared for nuthin', cause he's
an army man! You had me going there, Mike, for a
minute I was thinkin' you found an alien!"

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PS: Thanks for reading and perhaps listening.