Poem: "Careful Trust"
This poem just popped into my head one day while I was thinking about Johan and Althey, and how their relationship grows over time. It has been sponsored by minor_architect. Notice that while it's free verse, it has structure, as the number of lines per verse rises and falls. This poem belongs to the series Path of the Paladins, which you can explore further on the Serial Poetry page.
Careful Trust
Carefully placed is this trust,
like a soap bubble
cupped in sudsy hands,
like an eggshell
blown empty of all but air
nestled in a bed of wool,
like a songbird
with its tiny hidden heart
beating even faster than the rain
upon the clouded windowpane.
Carefully held is this trust,
like a treasure of warm gold
locked safe in its cedar box,
like a tabby kitten
curled close and purring
between the guard dog's paws,
like a seed tucked into rich earth
and covered with compost
and sprinkled with water
and walled with mulch.
It grows between them,
Johan and Althey,
like the stems of two bushes
slowly becoming a hedge,
like warp and weft wedding
their threads in the loom
to become good cloth,
like a clear creek
joining a muddy river,
unspoken, unexpected, unbroken.