He Sits By My Side

by Hamza Ansari
(Muscat, Oman)

A poem written from a naive 7 yr. old child's perspective.

A personification of Death makes itself visible to the little boy and the boy be-friends him, thinking he is an Angel.

I’m friends with an Angel, you know

He is big, long and wears a black cloak

He is not exactly like the one in pictures

But then again, this is reality and that is fictional

He walks with me side by side

No-one can see him but only I

When it starts raining, he protects me

From the rain, but always seems to leave

My head wet when he blows me dry

And when I fall sick, I really don't know why?

My Angel, who always sits by my side, has a glint in his eye.

And everytime when I get better, that glint goes

He gets sad but still, wherever I go he follows

Sometimes I try to talk to him but all he does is grunt

And boy, sometimes he can be so careless and so blunt

Like when I was crossing the road yesterday

A huge truck was coming my way

It was coming fast and I got scared but,

My Angel jumped in-between me and the truck

He pushed me to the side by his hand

And into a wall I crashed

And because I broke my leg

I’m lying here in my bed

My Angel is sitting by my side

But what I don’t understand is why

Does he have a glint in his eye?