I HAVE FAITH IN YOU...
For Tif. Please forgive the pathetic attempt at prose. My love to you and your "garden" where I almost weekly
escape to so that I may once again realize what childhood
is supposed to be -- and that even adults can "make believe".
I have faith in you Tif -- you can do anything.
Should you need it -- you have a friend for life.
"You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give." -- Kahlil Gibran
THE SOUND OF FAERIES ROBBING AN ORCHARD
by: Leigh Hunt
We, the Fairies, blithe and antic,
Of dimensions not gigantic,
Though the moonshine mostly keep us,
Oft in orchards frisk and peep us.
Stolen sweets are always sweeter,
Stolen kisses much completer,
Stolen looks are nice in chapels,
Stolen, stolen, be your apples.
When to bed the world are bobbing,
Then's the time for orchard-robbing;
Yet the fruit were scarce worth peeling,
Were it not for stealing, stealing.
It's been a long, trying day and my mind is tired,
why should I bother writing my friend tonight?
I'll do it tomorrow.
Tomorrow comes, and once again, time gets away from me.
Before long, many tomorrows have come and gone,
and I begin to wonder if my friend ever even thinks of me.
She was kind to me at a time in my life when
my self-esteem was at an all time low.
All those long chat room hours --
I still wonder what she found in me then to even bother.
But bother she did -- always finding spare minutes
in her busy days when she had few to spare.
Finding common ground in the twists and turns of our fates
never imagining then that we were not just "fair weather" friends.
She restored my faith in fantasy and fancy,
a love I had long ignored, 'til I made a trip to her garden.
There I found amazing, for I found myself again
in her world of the legends of old, unicorns, and faeries.
She was ever patient, ever caring, never tiring.
Morning coffee and "I need to a cigarette" chats,
Sharing our heartbreaks and our joy chats.
Her strength and endurance extended far, almost past bearing.
She led the "slow of wit" through the gauntlet of html,
always saying, "I have faith in you MT, you can do it.
The last I heard from my friend until just recently
she wrote to me, "I knew you could do it, MT,
I have faith in you.
Why should you bother tonight with your friend
when you are so tired and weary?
For all things mentioned above and those
not even yet thought of.
If your friend has been silent,
it may never be because she has said, "why bother,
I'll write to her tomorrow."
It may be because she needs your encouragement and love
and is too busy and overwhelmed and thus remains silent.
So don't wait and wait until another day comes and goes.
Take time to "bother" today in order to let your friends
know that you care, before tomorrow.
With fondness, much respect, and my highest esteem.
MT
Oh, the comfort -- the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe
with a person,
Having neither to weigh thoughts,
Nor measure words -- but pouring them
All right out -- just as they are --
Chaff and grain together --
Certain that a faithful hand will
Take and sift them --
Keep what is worth keeping --
And with the breath of kindness
Blow the rest away.
by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik
