The Treasure

As I stare out the window, my mind begins to wander.  I start thinking about things most people only dream about.  I think of faraway lands and of titanic clashes of battle where heroes guide their people to victory.  I see warriors in glittering armor fighting hand to hand with weapons as white as fire because of the wrath of those wielding them.  I see tombs of great kings of old lying strewn upon a plain.
    I see a great castle with brilliant banners hanging from the windows and an impassible iron and wooden gate blocking the entrance.  I see a small, dirty town sitting before the castle.  The children on the streets are smiling as they chase each other around.  Their parents look on with a smile on their tired faces as they continue their work.
    As my mind loses itself completely in the world, I begin to hear things.  The children in the streets are screaming gleefully as they continue their game.  The wheels of carts and the grunts of workers resound through the town.  Near at hand there is a blacksmith hammering a piece of white hot metal into a useful tool.
    My mind focuses on a small, brown hut sitting on the edge of town.  Its thatched roof and stick door give it a poor appearance, but it holds the most important treasure of the entire kingdom.  In the hut I hear the most amazing noise I have ever heard.  I hear a woman crying and children laughing, but the most amazing sound I hear is the sound that a treasure makes once it has been forged.  This sound brings peals of laughter from some, and cries of pain from others.
    I now stand at the door and push myself to walk into the ramshackle hut from where this glorious sound originates.  I push open the creaking door and the miraculous sound intensifies.  My leather boots thud on the packed dirt floor.
    I follow the great sound through the strangely vacant rundown shack into a room in the back.  There I finally lay eyes on the treasure unequalled by any in the world.  I fall to my knees observing the miraculous scene before me.
    “My God,” I pray silently, “thank you for this miracle.”
    I quietly stand and walk over to the noisy treasure.  I reach down to pick it up, but pause to think if it would be harmful.  I pull my hands back to my sides and stare at the miracle before me.
    As I turn to leave, the amazing sound stops quite suddenly.  Alarmed, I spin around willing to defend the treasure with my life.  It stares at me with its large eyes pleading for me to stay.  As I look into those large, hazel brown eyes, I become a victim of their spell.
    I take one step towards it and raise it in my arms.  I lean it on my shoulder and feel its warm breath on my neck.  I move my head and kiss it thinking that there cannot be any treasure greater than this: a newborn child coming to life in this world of sorrow.