Observations from the ski slopes...
I see them sitting at a large table at the lovely grill restaurant,
On the edge of the ski slopes
In Beaver Creek, Colorado,
And I think to myself that the little boy may not know it yet....
But it is like he's won the jackpot or the lotto...
He is a little Cambodian boy,
Maybe just three or four years young,
Adopted by this very wealthy couple.
His father is handsome, tall with a beautiful head of grey hair
And his new mother looks like an aged angel,
She is still skinny, very pretty and very caring.
In Cambodia, this little orphan
Would have been just one year away
From child labor, to help to provide for his family.
Maybe he would have to learn how to fish,
Or how to catch and skin slithery eels
That his brothers caught by the muddy river...
His Cambodian mother,
If she were alive and if she had kept him,
Might have been too busy with raising his siblings
And spreading her love and attention very thin...
Between her seven kids...
But this little Cambodian boy knows no other family...
His family now is this wealthy couple from Vail,
Who loves and fusses over him
As if he were the reincarnation of Jesus Christ...
The love and care in their eyes as they look at him,
Is something not many kids grow up with...
Rarely are orphans this lucky...
All of them are dressed in designer matching ski suits
The boy looks so cute in his tiny ski clothes....
I wonder if he knows he's won the lottery...
The waitress in a crisp white shirt
And a long black apron tied at her waist,
Asks them if she can bring them the children's menu.
She say they have a special menu with favorites for kids,
A kid's menu bound in brown leather....
The handsome father laughs at her suggestion,
He says his little boy is VERY picky....
He only eats certain things... prepared in a certain way...
A kid's menu would just NOT do...
Please ask the chef to make him whatever he likes,
The father says...
Money is NO issue...
I felt cruel when an uninvited thought runs loose in my mind,
That if this little boy had stayed in Cambodia...
He would be eating frogs and flies...
And he would never have been allowed to be this picky...
But I chased the thought away,
And continued to observe.
When their food arrives,
Both adoptive parents alternate between feeding and cleaning the small boy.
He is well behaved with big black eyes filled with awe.
He is taking in the snow,
The colorful people with their fancy skis
With their stylish hats and multicolored jackets...
Maybe they remind him of the exotic birds he once saw as a baby
Back in Cambodia...
I wonder if he knows he's won the lottery...
On the edge of the ski slopes
In Beaver Creek, Colorado,
And I think to myself that the little boy may not know it yet....
But it is like he's won the jackpot or the lotto...
He is a little Cambodian boy,
Maybe just three or four years young,
Adopted by this very wealthy couple.
His father is handsome, tall with a beautiful head of grey hair
And his new mother looks like an aged angel,
She is still skinny, very pretty and very caring.
In Cambodia, this little orphan
Would have been just one year away
From child labor, to help to provide for his family.
Maybe he would have to learn how to fish,
Or how to catch and skin slithery eels
That his brothers caught by the muddy river...
His Cambodian mother,
If she were alive and if she had kept him,
Might have been too busy with raising his siblings
And spreading her love and attention very thin...
Between her seven kids...
But this little Cambodian boy knows no other family...
His family now is this wealthy couple from Vail,
Who loves and fusses over him
As if he were the reincarnation of Jesus Christ...
The love and care in their eyes as they look at him,
Is something not many kids grow up with...
Rarely are orphans this lucky...
All of them are dressed in designer matching ski suits
The boy looks so cute in his tiny ski clothes....
I wonder if he knows he's won the lottery...
The waitress in a crisp white shirt
And a long black apron tied at her waist,
Asks them if she can bring them the children's menu.
She say they have a special menu with favorites for kids,
A kid's menu bound in brown leather....
The handsome father laughs at her suggestion,
He says his little boy is VERY picky....
He only eats certain things... prepared in a certain way...
A kid's menu would just NOT do...
Please ask the chef to make him whatever he likes,
The father says...
Money is NO issue...
I felt cruel when an uninvited thought runs loose in my mind,
That if this little boy had stayed in Cambodia...
He would be eating frogs and flies...
And he would never have been allowed to be this picky...
But I chased the thought away,
And continued to observe.
When their food arrives,
Both adoptive parents alternate between feeding and cleaning the small boy.
He is well behaved with big black eyes filled with awe.
He is taking in the snow,
The colorful people with their fancy skis
With their stylish hats and multicolored jackets...
Maybe they remind him of the exotic birds he once saw as a baby
Back in Cambodia...
I wonder if he knows he's won the lottery...
