Bereft--By David Palmer--United States

Bereft

Priceless pearls scattered as the necklace

Was snapped, ripped away by greedy

Hands, envious of your sublime beauty

And even gentler encouragement. Bounced

Every one of them cross cobblestones, cracks,

And down the storm drain irretrievable.

Holding that golden empty promise string

Your fountain of tears so scalded my soul.

Could I but hold you, say comforting words,

I would have. But words are trite when the heart

Is blistered in injustice’s heat.

We gathered what we could, returning

To the Sea, knifing open more oysters

Restringing your dream, one pearl at a time.

David Palmer makes his home in Renton, Washington, just outside Seattle.  As a former minister, and avid reader, he is a lover of poetry and has written 88 sonnets, mostly for the delight of his friends.  He currently works for Bloodworks Northwest in Bellevue, Washington, a blood center supplying whole blood, platelets and plasma for transfusion to patients in hospitals in Alaska, Washington, and Oregon.