Gifts

We're challenged today to write a poem about a handmade gift we've received. I know exactly the gift I will always treasure...

Paper flower

It was a bad morning –

I was older

and Dad wasn't home

I wished the day away

without fuss,

without incident,

without acknowledgement

But my sister 

came into my room,

paper flower in hand,

twisted onto a green pipe cleaner –

she thought it'd cheer me up

Bittersweet tears filled my eyes;

how such simple 

pink and blue tissue paper

could humble so

and make me so grateful

all at once

That precious paper flower –

the best birthday gift ever

Andrea Vermaak © 2020 

The joy of giving

Our prompt for the day is 'to write a poem of gifts and joy' and is inspired by one of Rachel McKibben's posts on Twitter.

I am going to take the prompt a step further and challenge myself to write about the joy of giving, but not in the common sense of the phrase. I'm quite inspired by McKibben's post too...

The joy of giving

Today, 

I gave away a smile

and another tired face brightened

I let go of my own pain

in a warm cup of tea

as a quiet

gift to myself

I hummed

a melody in my heart

to chase away

the clouds