15 year old guang peng.
the mute one.
the mute one.
who just talks with his eyes.
he sat in our makeshift camp office looking curiously around
as the orphanage director introduced him and his three friends to us. my busy,
overworked brain tried to think of a million and one things and rush ahead to
be sure we were prepared for our next activity as the names flew by me. but
when she said his name, “this is guang peng. you have to keep an eye on
him…he’s a rascal, this one.” i stopped, looked down, and two of the deepest,
fullest brown eyes i’ve ever seen looked half-innocently, half-mischievously up
at me. there was something in those eyes that spoke volumes. something that
grabbed me and drew me in. the director continued, “he’s mute. he doesn’t
speak, but he can hear and understand. just…keep an eye on him.” she didn’t
need to say anymore. my heart was gone.
over the next few days we became best of friends, guang peng, in his shy, silent way; speaking, almost yelling, without words. i’d turn around and there those eyes would be, calling to me from across a room, pleading with me to join him. i found out why the director had said to watch him…he was a runner. one moment he’d be there, the next he’d be gone. just a few minutes though, and he would appear back at my side, laughing at me with those eyes as i realized he’d fooled me again. we talked about things too. he’d slowly look through all the pictures on my camera and i’d talk to him about camps, about life, about things that made me laugh and cry. and he’d answer with his eyes.
on our last night together he laid beside me on the floor during our evening movie, making constant silent bids for my affection. he knew it was almost time for goodbye, but he didn’t want it to come. he didn't make one sound, but everything in his actions, looks, movements was screaming out for a mother's love. i might have been the closest he ever came to it that night, him all curled in a fetal position inside my arms, taking my hands and wrapping them around his face, closing his eyes and breathing me in like he wanted to remember that place to come back to forever.
so many secrets hidden away behind those eyes. i’ll never know what tragedies, heartaches, and tears hide behind the locked up place in his heart that also binds his tongue. i only know that those eyes, so full of understanding, and so pleading as they spoke the unspeakable found their way into the memoirs of my heart. i will never forget them. they are one of the images that drive me. as i live to go beyond the walls that guang peng and children like him put up to protect themselves from a harsh and violent world. as i live to build behind those walls a kingdom of love and gradually to see those walls crumble and fall, conquered by the only Love that will never fail.
over the next few days we became best of friends, guang peng, in his shy, silent way; speaking, almost yelling, without words. i’d turn around and there those eyes would be, calling to me from across a room, pleading with me to join him. i found out why the director had said to watch him…he was a runner. one moment he’d be there, the next he’d be gone. just a few minutes though, and he would appear back at my side, laughing at me with those eyes as i realized he’d fooled me again. we talked about things too. he’d slowly look through all the pictures on my camera and i’d talk to him about camps, about life, about things that made me laugh and cry. and he’d answer with his eyes.
on our last night together he laid beside me on the floor during our evening movie, making constant silent bids for my affection. he knew it was almost time for goodbye, but he didn’t want it to come. he didn't make one sound, but everything in his actions, looks, movements was screaming out for a mother's love. i might have been the closest he ever came to it that night, him all curled in a fetal position inside my arms, taking my hands and wrapping them around his face, closing his eyes and breathing me in like he wanted to remember that place to come back to forever.
so many secrets hidden away behind those eyes. i’ll never know what tragedies, heartaches, and tears hide behind the locked up place in his heart that also binds his tongue. i only know that those eyes, so full of understanding, and so pleading as they spoke the unspeakable found their way into the memoirs of my heart. i will never forget them. they are one of the images that drive me. as i live to go beyond the walls that guang peng and children like him put up to protect themselves from a harsh and violent world. as i live to build behind those walls a kingdom of love and gradually to see those walls crumble and fall, conquered by the only Love that will never fail.
perfect
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