Once there lived a little boy
His name was Peter Andy
He often stopped to watch the planes
as they loaded and fled from the ground
Peter was happy just watching them fly
But one day he started to think
“where do they come from and where do they go?”
Every craft would return on its own
He crept up much closer to where the planes lived
And to Peter’s surprise all the people were gone
All he could smell was the burn of his town
The smell of his clothes that were really just trash
The planes were so shiny, so clean and brand new
He wondered, “Could he be as new as them too?”
He wandered much closer and saw in the panels
The reflection of him and how dirty he was.
He sat on the pavement, his heart growing sad
There was hope that had drawn him
But hope of a life far away in the sky, he thought
Surely impossible for one filthy as I
Of a sudden a man came walking to Peter
He said “Have you come for the ride?
It’s a long and dark journey, but the end is all joy
Now is the time to board today
Come along or forever stay.”
Peter looked up at the man, surely crazy.
“Did you see what I look like, how filthy, unclean?
I’d soil the seats, I’d ruin the plane,
I don’t belong there, I never could come.
The man just took one big step closer
And took young Peter by the hand
“No one who comes is clean for the plane
We do that for you, it’s part of the plan.”
Peter just stared, t’was a lot to take in
The man wanted Peter and could make him all clean
Peter looked over his shoulder to home
And suddenly knew what a place that it was
Home was burning and burning
His home was a trash heap
Everyone there was as filthy as he
The poison they breathed was the air of destruction
Their whole life was dying
He saw that all now.
“Today is the day where you have to decide”
The man stretched out his hand and took Peter’s inside
“It’s forever or nothing and now you must choose,
Will you travel away into the sky?
Or stay here forever and surely here die?”
Peter felt that his heart was divided within
He knew the filth from which he had come
But the filth was the comfort he’s always known
To be clean would be strange and just so far away
But he knew at the heart of the depth of his heart
There was no going back, He had to take part.
He stepped toward the man and said
“This takes my life, we’d better go
Soon before the light is all gone.”
They ran to the plane and climbed quickly in.
The man hugged Peter and said
I’ll be up front, flying this thing
You won’t always see me, but I won’t let us down.
Out stepped a girl, her clothes somewhat clean
Cleaner than Peter but not as clean as the man.
She said “Come on, Peter! Glad you’re aboard!
I’ll show you how we live.
“The journey’s long,” the girl began
“But trust the pilot, the man that you met
There will be storms and turbulent times
But that’s where our seatbelts come in.
The plane may shake and bounce all around
Sometimes there’s lightning and sometimes it’s loud.
But even if we are out of control
The Pilot’s ships always arrive safe at the last.”
Peter sat and he buckled on in
He realized his clothes were less dirty already.
Nothing He’d done, but in places where the pilot had lifted him up
The stains were much lighter the stench was much weaker.
His heart swelled with joy as the liftoff ensued
And the view as the plane touched the edge of the sky
And the pilot exclaimed
“It’s beautiful now, wait till I come again.”
Peter could rest now like never before
The food that the pilot made was unlike any he’d known
And the time that he spent with the pilot was full
Of laughter and joy, and cleansing some more.
The girl came around every now and again
But when he focused on the pilot
He barely could see anything more
Than the smile on his face and the touch of his hand
Filled with love, filled with life, and full of his grace.
After some time the pilot didn’t come near as much
And Peter grew restless and wandered around
One day near the kitchen that was stocked with good food,
He smelled something earthy and not all that good.
A smell he remembered that made his head light with feeling
And when he saw what it was all his senses went reeling
A stash of the garbage that rotted behind
The kitchen in a pail that had yet to be dumped.
The boy could remember the taste of this slop
He remembered at first with an uneasy feeling
Then he remembered his favorite rotten delights
The smell overwhelmed his mind and his thoughts
His memories kept growing stronger and stronger.
He walked out the door but his mind stayed within
Thinking of garbage and how much he’d found
And of how much it filled him when he’d been at home
They were blessings turned sour, not at their right time
He knew his food was better, but couldn’t resist
The temptation to taste of the garbage again.
He started to sneak little handfuls away.
He lost his taste for the Pilot’s food
His days spent instead consuming nasty old fish heads
The pilot was gone far longer than usual
And the habit grew larger and larger and larger.
The pains in his stomach grew worse as the days passed
And It came to a point where he couldn’t get up
The trash became trash again in a different pail
And his nausea consumed him but mixed with desire.
‘I feel I will die” screamed Peter that day
“How could the pilot leave me this way?
Why would he leave pails of stuff lying around that could make me this sick,
That could bring me to death?
When Peter was worse than he ever had been
The pilot came down from the cockpit and said
“My peter, why would you go back to that trash
When my cooking for you is the best of the best?”
Peter just groaned and he whined in his shame
“I don’t know what I was thinking
It’s made me so sick
I know your ways are the best and your place is my rest.”
The Pilot nursed Peter back to health
And gave him a diet of what would be best
Peter recovered and the pilot said then
“I’m going up front and don’t know when I’m coming
Back, but watch for me patiently, eating my food for my best is your best.”
