Friend

[katepoet]

This one won an award. Makes me think of all of you.

Friend

I will listen to you with love and respect.
I will recognize your sorrows and celebrate your joys.
I will let you grow and change without judgment.
I will be your friend.

I will not resent the others whom you choose to love.
I will not undermine you with hidden barbs.
I will not deny your pain or belittle your faith.
I will be your friend.

I will respect your choices for yourself, even when I would not choose the same path.
I will honor your view of yourself, even when I do not see through the same window.
I will value your perceptions, even when I cannot perceive the same vision.
I will be your friend.

You are a gift to me; a jewel in the diadem of my life.
You reflect the blessed sunlight; you illuminate my days.
You let me touch the stars and bask in the silver glow of the moon.
You will be my friend.


Katherine A Minden copyright 2005

[rivermom]

Nice poem Kate. I take it you've been writing awhile now and you seem to really enjoy it.

[katepoet]

I love it but have so little time now. So in my mind, I am cheating a little, posting poems that I didn't write this week. But I like to share them and hope they connect.

This poem I wrote with a specific friend in mind who needed to know she had a good friend. I like to print the first and last verses in a fun type face on artsy paper and frame in frames with fun decor to give to friends - I even sold a few that way! Last year the dollar store had some fun frames in pink, white and black with molded pumps, hats, umbrellas and dresses - kind of gal's kitsch 1930's style. I used those and printed the verses on pink marbled paper to go in the frames. With signature, of course - lots of fun.

I also write poems when I am low or for friends who are low - I haven't posted much of those yet here - don't want to bring anyone down. What do you think?

[katepoet]

This one also won something... and is about friends. What tea are you?

Tea and the Women I've Known
With thanks to Celestial Seasonings for the teas that have accompanied us through college, careers, marriages, and children, and into these reflective days.

Annie was Sleepytime, chamomile, resting her legs on the cushioned window seat after spending hours in her garden early each day before the summer heat arose. She sipped her soothing tea under the fronds of the potted palm; shade from the noonday swelter.

Monica was Tuscany Orange Spice, the warm scent and feel of the earthy soil from which sturdy green sunflower stalks shoot up, brown and golden flowers following the sun.

Constance, a Red Zinger, laughter bubbling up from within, a smile, a wry grin; she was the joy of the springtime warbler taking flight.

Phoebe, oh, Phoebe, like Golden Honey Darjeeling, black tea for intelligence deep, orange peel for zing, and honey for the complex sweetness of clover mixed with a multitude of fruity nectars.

Lydia? Marrakesh Express, licorice, cardamom, anise, full of surprises, always ready to travel to new latitudes, skiing down the world's mountains with passion.

Isabelle, strong and able, Morning Thunder, fiery black tea with the constant strength of Yerba Mat?, tuning her motorcycle, bursting through the Michigan wilderness like a she-bear braving the storm.

Piper, who, like a wisteria in the woods, is strong and lithe and only in springtime wears a constellation of trailing lavender blooms. She is Harvest Apple Spice, plucking the apple straight from the tree in her own orchard.

And I, sometimes I am Peppermint, bright, full of cheer, and sometimes I am Devonshire English Breakfast, British, tasting the flavor of words as they roll off my tongue, and sometimes I am a little bit of all of these teas, all of these women I have known, gathering around our kitchen tables or on our porches decked with hanging plants, sipping tea and friendship in the morning sun.

Katherine A Minden copyright 2005