Unsolicited Gifts: A poem by Julie Duke

A slender birch, silhouetted against the pale winter sky:
Pastel-coloured collage of turquoise, pink and yellow;
A curlew utters its mournful cry across the estuary
And a dark red ball of fire sinks on the western horizon.

A ray of sunlight falls on a blue-green sea of bluebells;
A snowflake rests softly for an instant on my windowpane;
The cat mews and licks my hand with her slow, rasping tongue;
My husband looks at me from over his book and smiles.

‘Life’, transfixed for a fraction of time,
A tiny measure
Poured out like an offering:
An unexpected treasure –
A moment of joy.

Unsolicited, not made to order,
Moments such as these,
Like a bite-sized portion:
A taster of life’s intrinsic value.

How to quantify?
How to capture them?
How to explain or express
The wonder of it all.

What is life?

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