Once, long ago, there was a child.
He lived in a great big city, with little trees and shrubs to see
One day, While walking home, the child had tripped on the curb
upon falling, the child glanced up and saw a tiny little gap in the wall.
So, dusting himself off, he adventured deep into the alleyway.
The path had many twists and turns, but soon,
He entered a beautiful little garden. There were trees and flowers abounding
and a little pond with a bench nearby.
Such serenity had never been seen before in the hustling city,
and the child, forgetting his rush, settled down on the bench.
and he lay there, hearing the babble of the pond beside him,
the wind between the tall buildings, and the chirp of birds.
And there he sat, for hours, feeling the sun upon his face.
later, he arose, to walk about the garden, and remembered the time
and ran home as fast he could.
The child wished to tell someone about his garden, but,
all the serenity, it was blessed to him, and him alone.
and he told no one.
every day the child went to that garden, just enjoying the sun.
but as that child grew older, he had to visit less and less, but he still went once a week
And that child grew into a teenager, and still no one else knew.
That garden in the hole in the wall was always there, but no one saw it.
well, one day, when that child had all grown up, he decided to tell one person.
He brought his girlfriend to that garden, to show her the calm ways of it.
and she too, as the child once was, amazed by it.
now, he never made her promise to keep it secret.
and she brought her friends there, who brought their friends
and eventually, the whole city was trying to get to the small garden.
and all the people walking through trampled the grass and flowers,
crushed the shrubs and trees, and eventually wore it down to the dirt.
Now, the Child was quite upset, as it had never changed, through his whole life
and now it was gone.
The child, an old man by now, had grown terribly ill, and spent most his time sitting
on that bench, next to the small pond.
And soon, he had died.
but no one remembers the old man, or the man, or the teenager, or the child
and had removed the small pond to make room for pedestrians.
and removed the bench, to make the alley bigger
and made the hole bigger, to make a road.
but, on those still summer days, drivers can hear the babble of that small pond
and see an old man on a bench.