An Unexpected Blessing.

Four's just right, we'd said. You, me, two beautiful girls.

He tumbled in, ten years adrift, on a cold December day,

snow outside, stifling within, a screaming hullaballoo of a boy.

"My little brother," whispered Jo in awe.

"Happy Christmas baby," murmured Ali, as

together they lay the teddy beside him.

                                                                 

© Sheila Rogers
All rights reserved

Unexpected Blessings

Walking in lamplight snow,                                      

my daughter's tiny hand

curls in my palm.

Working. Searching.

Shattered sleep.

Myopic attention

on apparent affection;

leaving fatigue,

pale with questions.

London day in sunlight,

my grand-daughter

trots beside me,

her small hand

wrapped in mine.

Sunlight catches a snow crystal

in the dark of night.

© Valerie Taylor
All rights reserved

Family Union

An unlikely gathering:
dad, step-dad, children, partners, me.

Clouds to horizon stretch,
parting,
sunshine reigns.

Picnic to delight
and share
in grassy cliff-top hollow.

Offshore dolphins
play
to spectators' joy.

Swifts wheel
on insect prey;
butterflies float.

Our unexpected blessings.

© Helen McIntosh
All rights reserved

As I take a moment

to look deeper

to see what’s really happening

- at shape,

line, texture,

balance, proportion,

the shadow and the substance -

I pause, looking away

- taking stock

paying relaxed attention -

when a metaphor ignites understanding:

I connect with it; it connects with me.

I am blessed:

an unearned, unmerited

moment of grace.

© Sophia Roberts

All rights reserved

To Be

Nothingness.  Ages pass.

Continents divide.  Dinosaurs come

and go.  Then,

through happenstance

or serendipity,

a fluke perhaps,

I

am here.  A sentient being.

Briefly mortal.

A minute part of life’s

churning whirligig,

feeling its pain and wonder.

Why?

I know not, only that

I am grateful for this

unexpected blessing.

© Gill Dunstan
All rights reserved