The pelting rain and lightning streaks
Didn't matter in my cozy car.
Containers of Chinese food nestled
On the seat next to packages
From the shopping mall. Home was not far.

The radio spoke of a rocket ship
Plunging through outer space.
What a time to be alive!
And then I saw his face!

The old man sat in a wheelchair,
In a shirt and pants that reached down
To stumps that ended at his knees.
I wondered, with all our country's wealth,
Why can't we care for such as these?

I got out of the car and walked
To him, and offered him my help.
He didn't speak, but shook his head no.
I sensed he no longer cared,
and wanted me to go.

Something made me look up.
I couldn't believe what I saw.
An image of Christ floated above him.
Stunned, I walked back to my car.
I wondered, why didn't others see Him?

Then I realized to see Him,
You had to walk up close enough
To talk to that legless old man,
As he sat in the rain, with bare head bowed.
Did the rain feel good on his parched lips,
Or of wheelchairs and rocket ships?

This is a true story of an experience I had years ago. I didn't expect
to be believed - I could hardly believe it myself - so I submerged
it into a fictional poem. The facts are, it was raining, and I was
driving. I saw the legless old man in a wheelchair in the middle of
what was then a field. I was concerned. I went to him and offered
him every kind of help I could think of, but he didn't want help. I
sensed he wanted to be alone. Something told me to look up,
and I saw the image of Christ floating above him. I walked back to my
car and looked back. It was then that I realized that from the road,
the image of Him only looked like a watery patch of rainbow. I wasn't
stunned, but at the same time the impact of this experience slowly
sifted through my mind over a period of time.

Mary Naylor

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/of-wheelchairs-and-rocket-ships-revised/