BY PAMELA JO BOWMAN – MESA ARIZONA – This poem touches my heart. It always has.

Love’s Mendicant
by Susan Mitchell

What do I want of thee?
No gift of smile or tear
Nor casual company,
But in still speech to me
Only thy heart to hear.

To know another person so intimately so that you can hear their heart is to know yourself so intimately that you can hear your own.

I do want the gift of a smile or a tear. I do want the casual company because then there is at least company. I do want the still speech. Those small moments when looking intently into another’s eyes reveals their soul…and yours. To be so close you can hear a heart beat. How glorious that it could be your own. Equally strong. Equally provocative. Equally valued. What do I want of thee? Me.