Color Blind

Color Blind

By Billy O. Williams Excerpt from Down to Earth • August 27, 2024 • Updated July 12, 2026

From the Aug 27, 2024 e-Edition

The wind blew hard northwest by

west; it had commenced to snow:

A small Salvation Army Band

played carols, sweet and low.

From a church spire up on North Main

Street the bells began to chime;

The pretty lights flickered off and on,

'twas almost Christmas time.

Near the corner 'neath the parapet

of a hotel proud and grand,

On a cold and weathered cobblestone

sat a weary old black man.

He pulled his old coat over him

to cover his thin loins,

And at his feet a tin cup sat

asking for small coins.

He pumped an old accordion,

its bellows worn and frayed,

But it sounded like an organ

as he pumped and sang and played.

Then it seemed as out of nowhere,

a little white boy came

And whispered in the old man's ear

and called him by his name.

The old man pulled the kid up close,

kissed him, and held him tight,

And everyone who saw this scene

was warmed on that cold night.

The old man reached and got the cup

and gave it to the boy;

He said, "Dip in and take enough

to buy yo'self a toy."

Someone said, "That was nice of you

to do the thing you did;

You gave your meager earning

to a dirty faced, white kid."

He said, "Sir, when I was born,

the Lord gave me a good mind,

But he never gave me eyesight

and all my life, Sir, I's been blind.

I ain't never knowed the difference

'twixt day or darkest night,

So I can't tell if that little boy

is red, or black, or white.

I stays down on the South side

on a littered vacant lot,

And that little boy that you just saw

is the goodest friend I've got.

Folks tell me he's a white chile,

but Lawd knows I don't know

'Cause I can't tell de difference

'twixt soot and whitest snow.

I just know that when I needs him

he's always standing by;

I sho' has seen a lots of things

through that little feller's eye."

When he had finished talking,

I wiped away a tear.

I had seen a tattered old black man

express true Christmas cheer.

Few times on the streets of a city

are there acts so unselfish and kind,

And I wonder if it might not be good for

us all to be a little more color blind.

Print Issue: 8-27-24

In the e-Edition

McKenzie Banner August 27, 2024

Aug 27, 2024 · Read the full issue →

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