Beloved poet
For you are to me
As are we all
To one another
Or should be
Who are attacked by words
And images
When we’re not looking
I say
Beloved poet
Do not ask me
To regard your heart
With critic’s eye,
Not I who used my own
For all those years
To inspect
To critique
To advise
So damn many
Give me leave instead
To hear you
To see you
To taste the flavors
The scents you know
In your own two hands
And offer up
To us all
In peace
inlovelustandlaughter 