By Paul Manchester (From my book “Pursuits of Whimsey”)
There was no doubt about it,
despite their despair.
His Parents could see
their boy liked to do hair.
Yet, he was very good.
No one could deny
that this eight year old boy
could tease hair three feet high…
with ringlets and feathers,
with pigtails and curls,
with strings of brown leather,
whole birds nests and pearls.
All this amid tresses
swirled smartly aloft.
Few parents had seen such singular coifs.
It started when Blair,
(yes, that was his name)
on Sunday at two
called on his Grand Dame
at the Sunny Brooks Home
for the old and infirm.
She bitterly complained
that she needed a perm.
“The nurses are lazy!
The doctors don’t care!
And I haven’t enough money
to fix up my hair!”
But, Blair answered quick,
without missing a beat,
“I’ll do your hair Grandma,
I’ll fix it up neat!”
He went straight to work
with scissors and combs,
with pill bottles for curlers
and some pencils from home.
He sprayed and he teased
and he scrup’lessly lifted-
pre-dying it to look
hirsuto-roufusly gifted.
And when he was done,
Grandma was such a sight…
that the neighbors all gaped…
and then started to fight
over who would be next
for remedial bliss!
Then the nurses came over
to see what was amiss.
‘Ere long, Blair was snipping
and coloring them all!
Nurses and Doctors!
He did wigs for the bald!
The senile! The sick!
With such gentle finesse,
Sunny Brooks soon glowed bright
with the light of his genius.
When Blair’s Parents got home,
they were not amused.
A boy should do boy stuff,
and not play with mousse.
A boy should play baseball!
(or tennis at least)
Boys should make slingshots,
or catch little beasts!
What future is there
for a boy who does hair?
They shuddered to think
the possibilities there.
But, that’s what Blair did,
for he did it quite well.
And his parents adjusted
to his experiments with gel.
Before long, they allowed him
to do their hair too-
and their fear turned to pride
in their son’s derring-do.
For becoming a man
has much less to do
with some skills with a football
or to get black and blue.
The skills of the heart
are what make the man
and using your gifts
the best that you can.
Blair’s crafting of hairdos
may not seem worth while.
But, the world is more beautiful
when somebody smiles…
And smile? The world did
when it saw his creations!
(And much worse could be said
for some other vocations.)
