Untitled/For MF

Untitled/For MF

Each time
you answer
I am grateful
in a way
that make poets
cringe--
trite
over-the-top
metaphors
and hail marys
and whatever
jews and buddhists say
in thanks
when a miracle
has occurred.

Maybe
you really do know
what it is like
to shadow box…

to tiptoe
amongst
land mines
laid down so long ago
that the parties no longer
remember the war

yet each soft step
is one
toward freedom.

And so I tread
first with a quiet prayer
and now,
as you have taught me,
with a breath.

--Nancy Marks

Thanks, Ed - a poem wrapped in art.