With Arms Outstretched

Stepping out from Umphrey Lee, my feet mindlessly carried me to my next destination. The air was still, as it was yet too early for the typical self-sufficient student to be out and about. It felt like any particularly warm Thursday morning. Then, as if conjured by irony and fate to offset this grand routine of life, a solitary figure entered the scene. He rested upon the stone bench, smothered in black and armed only with a sharp goatee seconded only to his wit (I presume), a tempting yet unlit cigarette suspended from his moistened lips and set of ordinary mass-produced bongos in his lap. Tracing a tattoo upon his drums, he unleashed his instrument of choice and sang:

As a homegrown college kid I can clearly see / that you raised yourself by your own boot straps / despite the fact, regardless of your origin, /that the road ahead stretches farther / than the road behind / with arms outstretched. This is your life, in a time / where you seek to be the center of your own / cosmic-colored, mocha-flavored universe. BUT / Remember the price to be drawn to quarter / A penny for you thoughts. A dollar for a soda. /Try to stay afloat through the storm and flood of work /

But as you strain to remain on top of the rain, remember / Your universe isn’t as big as the world, so / A road’s still a road even submerged, though /No need for applause, no need for a stand. / If you can peer beneath the surface / Then lend a hand / With arms outstretched.

Ending his performance with a violent attack to the beats, he slowly stood up, sliding the bongos carefully off his lap and onto the bench. Then he simply walked away. I still had a class to get to, and now I needed to hurry. I left a five folded beside the bongos for him, and my feet began walking again on that warm Thursday morning.