O Reader! (yes, 'tis you whom I'm addressing)
What draws you to this page of tawdry verse?
If what you seek is succor, boon or blessing,
Why, any other text could be no worse.
Diversion, or a passage through life's thicket?
--The eyes meander, absent your direction--
Each poem represents a raffle ticket,
And the prize at stake is but your soul's reflection.
A fleeting impulse makes us crack the book,
Though the gesture issues from a deeper quest.
We long to hear that resonant, deep song
Our inner listening long ago forsook.
Great music, art or poems at their best
Attest what was inside us all along.
-- Josh Mitteldorf
Archive of the Daily Inspiration
