I thank my new friend Martha Phelps-Cotton for sharing this gem tonight as she recovers from the flu, and as she thinks of her son Reid, far to the north, still progressing after his chemotherapy for AML [acute myeloid leukemia]. That Martha feels or has the inner strength to share is amazing...so here is the poem that moved her to share it with me and her support crowd, a poem by the gifted yet humble Mary Oliver:
Praying
It doesn't have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch
a few words together and don't try
to make them elaborate, this isn't
a contest but the doorway
into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.
~ Mary Oliver ~
