*****

Recorded Reading (3:05): https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/m5zi3xjiyvt52w618yzkb/Gifts-of-Love-and-Joy.mp3?rlkey=sgywu6eqxn1qc3331173kzlok&dl=0

*****

Gifts of Love and Joy

We can recognize true friendship
By a whole shortlist of things
One true friend unto another
Unconditionally brings

Primary among them
Prevailing assumption be
Between them that one also
On behalf of other see ~

One out for the other looks
Has the other’s back
Truth has grown between them
Of trust there is no lack

Another gift a true friend gives
Is silence — listening
With all the heart to brethren heart;
Redemptive witnessing

As well, the deep, full empathy
Only brought by brother love
Permits constructive offering
Suggestions successfully of

Which smooth the path, which give a lift
Which ease the load, which pave the way
To an understanding
There might be a brighter day

A true friend’s there for no good cause
Than the enjoyment be
Not in your status or your roll
But in your company

And while there may be found abroad
Not many, but a few
Whom a friend will be in need —
Rarer still, indeed, indeed,

Are those will celebrate with you
From the very heart
When fortune turns its hand around
And easier times start

A true friend doesn’t need
Be constantly hearing from you
It may be hours or weeks or months
And yet between the two of you

Understanding so exists
It’s as no time has passed at all —
But the acid test of friendship
Is recov’ry from a fall

That’s not to say that falling ought
Be an everyday thing
With all the waste, destruction
And distraction that it bring

But as the years go rolling by
There must between most any two
Eventuate a moment
Of significantly diff’rent view

If afterward together can
Companions come to shake each head
Put that misunderstanding
Gen’uinely to bed

Not by sweeping anything
Ugly underneath a rug
Not by giving our beliefs
“On behalf of love” a shrug

For it would be much less than love
Returning to us that we feel
If interest on our behalf
Were not as keen and real

As ours for they — what do we want?
What makes us tick, what makes us smile?
What is important to us?
What brings hurt, and what beguile?

An honest reaching out
To better understand, oh, everything
About the emissary
Whom gifts of love and joy we bring

*****

Homeless until removal of the stalker/targeter/vandal/arsonist following her allows her to approach any landlord ~ even for a private parking space ~ this poet presently lives under perpetual threat of towing with all possessions should her 23-year-old van stop running for any reason.

She is badly in need of a modest reserve with which to field any emergency which might occur.

Donors may visit http://www.UgiftABLE.com , using code #72D-31S. It does take several days for the poet to be notified of your patronage.

Thank you for supporting quality in the fine arts.