Mr. Rogers and us

the neighborhood

“Won’t you be my neighbor?”

a soul so full of care

that connection just spills out of it,

as if it realizes it cannot stay inside itself,

that the neighborhood has to grow

for any neighbor to feel right—

not alone, not lost, just right,

my tears flow freely throughout the movie,

how Fred Rogers lived his life

echoes how I want to live my life,

believing in the other, as in myself,

believing in myself, as in the other,

my school, C.F.S., wants it to be 

“a beautiful day in the neighborhood,”

with each soul upwelling and positive.

Mr. Rogers sings to us

of the better angels within

who want to come out.

by Henry H. Walker

December 30, ‘19