Take heart

Take the love in the touch, it doesn’t matter very much
if the hand is perfect or the skin is rough.

Take the laugh in the cough and the drenching of the rain,
there is humor in our troubles and it serves to keep us sane.

Take the rest in the night, leave your worries in your shoes.
In the morning shake them out and don’t listen to the news.

Take time with a neighbor, she’ll have news enough to share.
You can ruminate together and find contentment there.

Take the lesson from the error, without carrying the past.
Keep the best it had to give you, nothing more was meant to last.

Take heart: When everything you tried seemed not to be enough,
your part was matched and multiplied if love was in the touch.

Poem by LESLIE BLAIR