I want to give to you what you have given to me,
meek, dark, unforgiving stage,
courage, step by step you walked,
hoping for an ear,
longing to be understood
a race to be judged
together as one.
I attempt to say,
a hand from my heart,
a bow from your soul,
I want to say,
You are understood!
This poem was written on a cocktail napkin by Nicole, after hearing my first public poetry reading at the Starlight in Fort Collins on Monday, June 21st, 1999. Thanks Nicole.
One lovely irony of this is that the first poem I read that night, Rilke's "To Music", was reportedly written on a napkin by Rilke after hearing a music concert. So, getting a poem back on a napkin was almost preternaturally appropriate.