Touch tenderly (Helen Berryhill)

 Touch tenderly 

When you touch – 

If you touch – 

For you will touch timidity 

And fold a fluttering in your hands. 

                                   

Hold 

This frightened fawn 

Meadowed in your grasp, 

Enfold 

This quivering leaf 

Air-borne in your press. 

                                   

Handle 

Immortality 

Denying all of death, 

Fondle 

Eternity 

Acclaiming all of breath. 

                                   

But, oh, touch tenderly 

When you touch – 

If you touch – 

For you will touch fragility 

And hold rare dreamstuff in your hands. 

--Helen Berryhill                      

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