When I write or read poetry I am instantly enthralled…
For me…poems of love and caring are the most beautiful poems of all:
A little boy…four years old…was in his backyard…his paper airplane flying…
when he noticed his next-door neighbor…in his own backyard was crying.
He’d seen the old man laugh a million times…and though he knew the reason why…
this is the first time in all their years together…he saw his neighbor cry.
He knew this old man who has lived next to him all four years of his young life
was crying in his backyard because he was missing his late wife.
As his mom watched from the window…her son…unaware of a generation gap
walked into his neighbor’s yard…and crawled up on his lap.
There he sat…and between the two of them…not a word was spoken…
(Sometimes silence is all that’s needed when a heart’s been broken).
“I saw what you just did out there.” Mom asked when the boy returned
“Do you mind if I ask you why?”
“I didn’t do anything, Mommy.” The little boy said.
“I just wanted to help him cry.”
Observing innocence and love and caring….this is where I want to be….
It’s where I find my inspiration…where I discover my poetry.
Sometimes I worry about running out of ideas for poems…
that as a poet I’m past my prime
but as long as there are stories of love and caring in the world…
I’ll find the words that make them rhyme.