In Between The Beat Of A City’s Tune

Lifted brow to the sky, mild mood, hands held high. “Just give me a beat!” the old fashioned man said. Dressed from head to toe in everything but shirt to shoe cohesion, miss-matching with a bright pink top. Hat to boot, the man couldn’t be more content. All he wanted to do was sing, turning noise into music at every turn, his spirit was as energized as a young boy on Christmas morning awaiting the new family pet to show face from under the tree! This blind man made his way to what we call the city of dreams. To him it was music, the city of noise! At every corner, a new instrument, from the gallop of a horses hoof, to a dogs bark, to a taxi horn, all just enough to inspire a tune! A man most would call homely and unfortunate, on the contrary, he would say, “just consider me the lucky one. I have a gift. I hear sounds most never hear.” When asked to explain, he would reply, “have you been to the park in the village where the pigeons meet? It’s like an arrangement of bells and whistles, an ensemble of feathers, a living breathing orchestra! Or maybe under the streets where millions of feet scurry, shoes are clacking, people huffing to achieve their destinations while trains come to screaming halts. I hear subway vocalists resembling a chorus of sorts to these scurrying entities. Just give me a beat. Sight means no more to me than the excitement of your new sparkling shoe. My ears are my gratitude. The world is my symphony. I need not see what I hear so clearly…” You will find this miss-matched man dancing in the streets, a slanted grin to the left side of his face aimlessly scouring the city for the next big hit! A grateful man, we should say, a free spirit, an angel. How sweet to meet people that dance to different beats, that live and breathe in between the notes of life. How fortunate we are to experience these off-the-beat souls… Refreshing, I’d say. Grateful. I welcome you.