Sometimes when the rain falls
I'd go outside
And sit beside
An old man
I never knew why he was there
But he was always there
Whenever the rain fell
We'd talk normal talk
We'd walk rainy walks
And he'd tell me about himself
He spoke of abuse
and drugs
and addiction
I told him I wasn't very happy at home
And he told me something amazing
Something that made my heart blazing
He said that If I were to die,
then I would never be alive
If I weren't supposed to be here
I wouldn't be
He told me that I was created out of love
I told him that my mother was just fooling around
Then he poked me in the chest and said,

"But she kept you."
He told me what went on beneath
he said what's best to do is just breathe
I cried and cried, The old man could provide
those magnificent words that had me stunned
Those words that stopped my refund
I wanted to give God back my life
I wanted God to use his knife
But then this man, I don't even know his name, told me he was in a place once
Just the same
He told me one night he had blood on his wrists
He said one night he had used his fists
He'd gotten in another fight
it didn't take much might
But he actually killed him
The old man said,
He killed the guy he had been fighting with
He couldn't forgive himself when he spied
The cold dead face of the guy he made die
But then something happened, that night with the knife
Something happened that made him continue his life
A knock on the window made him drop the knife.
Taped to this window was a package, he opened this package
and inside it was
A tape
The man said he took the tape, hooked it up to his VCR and on the screen was a shape
The shape became a face
A face began his
Then the tape began to play
Showing the man a shocking display
It was a video of the man laughing, the man when he was child to teen
When he was crying 'cause he scraped his knee
and the man breathed
That tape made him realize one important thing
People care
Every time he cried or got mad
Someone always had time
Someone always wanted to help
Someone was nice
Someone cared
Someone helped him up the stairs
And even if you haven't found this someone yet
Well keep looking
and I'll bet
That someone will come to you, and when they do, let them through
Don't put up walls or be afraid, this person is only your
band-aid
Then the rain stopped and the man left
Through the mist as he walked away
I heard him whisper
One last say
"When It gets to hard, when what's underneath becomes too dark, just stop and just breathe. Better things are underway."
And with that he simply shuffled away
Later that day, I found a friend
Someone who I had blocked out
Someone who I just realized wanted to help me out
And that night something happened
I found someone who cared
A person who wasn't scared
Or called me a freak
Sixty years later, I'm a broken old man
with too much time on his hands
When it rains I go outside
I take my cane
and realize
I sit on the bench, with a big heave.
I don't do anything
I sit there and breathe

stop and breathe