Here’s a new poem for the beginning of my final week of uninhibited summer. This poem is in honor of a wonderful lady I am lucky enough to be getting to know. Very lucky. You’d be inspired as well, if you had the chance to shine due to her presence.

And then there is Dora McQuad, googled here. She is visiting State College, PA to participate in a part-celebration, part-media circus remaking how community heroes are enshrined. Her image has replaced the likeness of supersnakegrossmiscreant Jerry Sandusky of the formerly untouchable, untarnished Penn State football program. So I am also posting this poem in dedication to her. May she embark gracefully. The global attention surrounding her work is unprecedented, but worthy of such a writer and person. Her purpose emboldens quiet voices.

Enjoy.

grace•ful•ly

believing in the best possible world
wordsmiths added the suffix –ful
to grace
in order to prepare language for her arrival

they defined the sentiment as embodying beauty
taking hold of it in the veins
and beamed from the heart
in every gesture genuinely
sweetly

upon this they affixed the –ly
so to measure the elegance of her movement
in the way a soloist would an aria
or a master of brush her fresco

simple really
to appreciate this gradient of human light
like the aficionado can taste
but not press grapes

the challenge she presents the world
with her eyes encouraging in every gaze
with soft reassurance
that we too have strength
for grace in all possible abundance

that we may be seen
all living
so fully