May 2020
Susan Donnelly
sdonnelly1950@gmail.com
Bio Note: Retired from teaching in Oregon, I rediscovered myself and writing. My mantra is that my poems should be like old-fashioned key holes, small openings that reveal larger worlds when one looks through them.

Our Breath Knows

What matters most is patience,
a calm heartbeat, and a cheek turned 
toward the warmth of summer sun;
the green flash at dusk
and in your lover’s gray eyes;
tiny clusters of daphne
sweetening February’s damp air;
a spider’s web of luck,
timing and careful crafting.

It is the first snowflake of winter
melting on an outstretched tongue;
crystalline tears shed for the caged,
the murdered and those forever lost;
voicing for the voiceless,
and listening to the stray cat purr 
in the hearts of others;
silent smiles and nods
of pre-dawn dog-walkers,
and the relentless surf of life.

True wealth is
the sweet breath of hope.
©2020 Susan Donnelly
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