By Tender Means of Poetry (or, To My Gentle Reader)

So sorry, sweet little birdies, but filling the feeders needs to wait! A sudden day off due to wild weather has opened the rather rare (ice-embossed)window of opportunity to 'wax poetic' 😅💓 This book, rescued from the garbage bin by a truly caring friend who dropped it off at my door last week, Stole my heart with the first page!... and inspired today's poem 'to my gentle reader'... Of that which kindly comes to beBy tender means of poetryTo cheer us gently on, dear friendUpon life’s careworn twist and bendWhere face to face we may not meetTo trace the bond of friendships sweetI thank God for love’s ink-wrought fontTo gently bind the wounds of wantAnd keep each other companyBy tender means of poetry To know, though we are far apartThe timeless tug of heart to heartTo share the very sacred touchOf tears and smiles and prayers and suchAnd help us realize anewThe preciousness of me-and-youAnd to gladden regions of thoughtWith refreshed awareness of GodTo make us feel like familyBy tender means of poetry To tune us to the creature cryOf hope; to hold love’s candle highWhere often dreams do not come trueAnd carefully laid plans fall throughTo teach us to not cling too fast-ly to what soon augments the pastTo remind us, through lilt of rhymeWhat does not change, in spite of timeAnd taste life’s sweet comraderyBy tender means of poetry To catch midst winter’s frigid flingA sense of everlasting springTo find a plot where tulips growTo brighten thought while wild winds blowTo rouse an unexpected thrillWhere pages birth a bloom-tossed hillAnd suddenly we bow the headAnd thank God for the bit o' breadThrough that which kindly comes to beBy tender means of poetry © Janet Martin