THE BENCH

THAT TOUGH COLD WINTER passed leaving behind those elongated nights and shortened days of light,  melting with a beam of sunshine the last whitish snowflakes over the tight grass.

Over a lonely corner was “the bench”….while dawning she unfolded her ears listening to a tender song of a small sparrow perching on a slight branch.

Lengthening her wooden arms, still yawning she opened her dazzled eyes. With a blurred vision she saw a colorful bouquet of newly budded flowers, two straight trees looking at the horizon and a refreshing water fountain.

She did not know how long she had been sleeping. She only knew her heart was beating full of life and that  her brain had engrave the last yearnings of those who had sat there before  that she fell asleep:

That thin-skinny woman with two little boys who was crying because she lost her job and did not know how she was to feed them…..

A cheerful couple who dreamed  for long hours about their future and swore love forever….

One stubborn young man wearing rounded glasses who  studyed from a thick book dreaming to become a great doctor….

Those lively friends who  gossiped and joked carelessly…

That calm old woman who  knit while recalling with every stitch those lovely moments that would never come back….

The bench realized she was alive, ready to hear once more those ilusions, sorrows, joys, triumphs and hardships that entwine every human life.  With energy and eagerness while grinning ,  the brown bench curled her wide mouth and said: IT IS SPRING AGAIN!

P.S:  In Spanish we say "la banca"....it could be "el banco" too. I know I should place "it" to speak about the bench but I want to give a gender to "the bench".  I don't know what sounds better in this case in English: she or he.  

Thanks in advance!