After a long hiatus from my blog, I'm feeling the need to at least dabble a bit with a return to posting.  Why now?  Well, April is National Poetry Month.  And today is Day 8 of the Poem A Day Challenge on the Writer's Digest site where anyone interested in poetry--either the writing of it or the reading--will find a treasure trove of poetry written in response to daily prompts from the moderator, Robert Lee Brewer.

Today's prompt is to write a poem about family.  It is indeed humbling to read the remarkable poetry posted by other poets on the Writer's Digest site.  For the record, here is my April 8 offering which, from the moment I posted it on the Writer's Digest site, I began revising.  I think it's about done--at least until I hit the preview and publish buttons....  :) 

Family:  Our Very Root And Measure

By Bill Kirk

Whether through common DNA

Or, the deep emotional bonds between lovers,

Or parents and their adopted children,

Or even kinship with long-time friends;

Such are the relationships

Which establish the ties

That forever link us

To others who we regard

As permanent extensions of ourselves.

Think on these things for it is indeed

Hard to imagine what possibly could be

More personal, more lasting or transcendent

In the midst of the frailties of mind, body and soul.

An unexpected brief glance

Exchanged across a crowded room;

Then, in a fleeting moment,

A lifetime passes and we let go the hand

Of someone now only with us in spirit.

An infant on life support, rending our hearts;

Yet one day dances, steady in our arms,

While lightly standing on our shoe-tops.

Too soon, you are transported to another dance

As you bear witness to your daughter—or a son perhaps—

Staking out their own hoped for lifelong bonds.

In one home, an only child defines family on their own terms;

While in another, sisters and brothers hold the feelings

And secrets of deeply personal things

Often shared with no one else.

Each, in his or her own way, is there with us—

and with one another—until the end.

A child or grandchild, often excelling

But sometimes struggling—

Seemingly just beyond our reach

To encourage them to stay the course;

Or let them know it will be all right.

Family in all its forms gives us our highs and lows,

Testing our strength to hold on

In the face of the too frequent urges to simply give up—

Yet, through it all, unexplainably,

Somehow leaving us the richer for it.

In their ever-changing forms and endless variety,

And whether far or near,

Family is life—our very root and measure! 

Embrace it each day you are given….