‘The Tender Ones’

Discover what a gift it is

to FEEL:

the messages of your body,

the poetry of flying geese,

the majesty of the moon,

the quiet knock of intuition.

Feel

the inner forests of others,

an X-ray revealing

vulnerable pain,

tender hopes,

and snowflake fingerprints

of magic.

Feel words

notes

and canvases of color

that will cleave you open

with Excaliber

and stitch you up.

And feel

your own inner volcano,

the power of earth,

hot lava of creativity

rumbling, rising.

Some lucky ones

feel nothing.

Days are even,

placid.

Coffee is drunk,

the TV watched,

to-dos completed,

food chewed.

A few disagreeable feelings

drowned, perhaps

with drink.

To the tender ones:

Don’t stop feeling.

Your tender power

is pushing the world forward.

Art by Charlie Bowater.