Thank Heaven For Poetry

 Sometimes poets are accused of being narcissists.

Sometimes that accusation hits a nerve
 (because it does take a lot of personal time and effort to write poetry)

but then I think of how

often poetry has reawakened my senses

 to the world around me

and the Maker thereof...

I think of how poetry has sweetened the journey

with recognition of nature's changeless ways; 

a reflection of its Creator.

I think of the many poems that thrill, challenge, 

encourage the mortal

because at the end of the day,

 though ages pass

the words of poets from ancient days till now
 prove the things that really matter

 never change...

and the greatest of these

is love!

so thank Heaven for poetry!

Thank heav’n for poetry

Where pages laugh with joy

And warm the heart with pleasantry

That ink pictures deploy

Thank heav'n for poetry

In all its sundry form

The splurge of a syllabic sea

Can take the heart by storm

On dreary winter’s day

Ink flower-gardens spill

To plant upon lackluster gray

A bloom-filled windowsill

Like laughter of a child

A poem breaks want's chains

So let its ink rivers run wild

As long as life remains 

Words weave and paint and sing

And as we drink their art

Ink beauty begins ushering

A poem to the heart

It warms the color wheel

That seeps out from within

Somehow a poem makes us feel

A bit like next of kin

….where gladder, kinder, we

Savor the now and here

And thank heaven for poetry

To fill the world with cheer

© Janet Martin