But Ah, Ink

Sometimes after a particularly draining day

 I need a good poem-purge before I tackle the tail-end of tasks 😊

You walk through rooms that talk cannot quite enter, but ah, ink

Can drown out frowning skeptics and the fear that of what They think

You put your arm around my sigh and draw me to that place

Where chaos and commitment and clemency interlace

You do not bid me hurry for the clock is running out

But like a patient teacher you encourage when I doubt

You listen while I pour out fondest joy and deepest woe

And never tell me halfway through, ‘excuse me, I must go’

You probe beneath the surface, go where none have gone before

And urge the poet onward till the surge rushes the shore

You bid her brave the waters that her voice would never dare

Until your ink-splurge fathers something akin to a prayer

© Janet Martin