A Friend’s Mother

When a good friend’s mother diesThere’s a lot that you can tell,Even if, by chance, you didn’t know her very well.

Her offspring tell a story

Almost every day

By how they work and worship and how they are at play.

It’s how they treat their neighbor

When their neighbor is in need

And how they greet a stranger who they pass upon the street.

Are they cordial? Are they decent?

Do they go a bit above?

Even when a little less would probably be enough.

You also get to know her

From the grandkids too.

Are they honest? Are they kind? Are their motives true?

Do they sit along the sidelines?

And let come what may?

Or do they make a difference in some small or special way?

And do her friends say,

“Boy, we’ll miss her.”

As they say their last goodbye

And do some who

Barely knew her

Have a teardrop in their eye?

It seems everyone she encountered

Now helps to tell the tale

So even though

I never met her

I guess I knew her pretty well.

— Blake Wolpert, Nashville (on the occasion of Mary Millhoff’s passing, February 2016)

Recherché Grace

Saucy whispers of old Jack Frost as he looks back o’er a cold shoulderWith curiosities of a fresh new spring pushing the shivers of winter awayAwkward, grotesque little creatures struggle to survive in their undeveloped state

While nature bursts forth her radiance each day.

A gentle place, the earth, with the flare of mysterious drama

And the whispers of its sublimity amidst this suave, inimitable earth

New life with its mellifluent sounds bring watchful care throughout the thrushes, and —

All outdoors adorned with symphonic splendor, my wondrous world.

I walk alone in recherché grace that touches lofty hills

Resplendent beauty on every hand, its harmonious rhyme ever in tune, and —

As breezes blow, they chime out sounds from everywhere

Then comes the climax of summer and its nature gives up her pulchritude, Alas, her pulchritude!!

— Goldie Gartin, Nashville

Brown County residents or former residents can submit original poems to be published in Poets’ Corner by emailing them to newsroom@bc democrat.com or mailing to P.O. Box 277, Nashville, IN 47448. Include your name and town of residence.