Finding Tenderness
The rose opens, slow and sure,
pouring pure aroma, so my nose
swigs the scent. And I go simple.
The mother with her toddler
smiles as she helps him
put his arm through pajama sleeve.
Tender gestures rise from where
roses find aroma, and mothers
smile at blazing innocence.
Raw and delicate, easily lost
or quashed, or ridiculed,
tenderness wears no coat
to protect its sensitivity.
So thirsty are we humans now
for tender moments, our hearts
desert dry and pining for it.
But it seems to need the moments
we think that we don’t have.
Have you felt a petal of a rose
run along your lips?
Don’t you think the blossom loves you?
A rosy child still alive within you
craves and trusts a tender gesture.
Forsake the stance you thought was strong,
pretended strength that really
was a bluff to hide the tenderness,
the power of your human heart to love.
©Susa Silvermarie 2026
I appreciate how your poems bring tenderness, beauty and love to our awareness. The hard shell of polarization seems to cool our hearts. We need your reminders. Our ability to love is momentous.
Precious tender .. thoughts to hold and treasure
Thank you Susa🥰
Beautiful, Susa. I do believe that the world longs for tenderness, for peaceful coexistence. I felt this profoundly when we visited with the Buddhist monks who walked through South Carolina. The longing from the thousands of people who attended his talk that night was palpable.