No matter what you see,

no matter how you feel,

no matter what you hear,

no matter what is going on

in the world around you,

no matter if the sky above

is cloudy instead of blue,

as long as you have within you

a vision and a view that you can

look to

every time you need to

to give your thoughts, your feelings,

and your emotions a boost –

whether what you look to is a place

like a beach or a city,

or whether who you look to a person

like someone who you love and who loves you:

that vision of hope, that may be a memory

from recently or from long ago,

that always has a power to enthrall,

to inspire, and to rejuvenate you

is the poetry of your mind and your soul

that has been brought into being

over the course of your life –

like a dream fueled by who and what

you imagine night after night –

which gives the gift of a voice

to everybody on Earth –

both old and young –

who have a story to be told

and a song to be heard

that continues, connects,

and contributes to epic experiment

of life and the poetic experience

that is the world within our universe.

Happy National Poetry Day! 😊