THE SIMPLEST THINGS

Poets notice the simplest things
and tell us how to look at them.
A friend can do that with an idea...
can say, “Here’s what I mean...”
and suddenly the notion is clearer.

I hadn’t thought about Henry Adams
for months... maybe even years
until my friend said what Adams said
about Mont St-Michel and I saw things
I hadn’t seen years ago looking at it
across the bay when I was there...

which is what friends are for...
to make the world clearer and,
dare I say, dearer... so later
riding back home close to earth
I saw grass and spiders and leaves
and flowers and, of course, you.