And while perusing

The bookstore of

My life I

Happened upon an

All-too familiar story

Of sweetness newly

Discovered in a

Landscape of bleakness

Of quenching rains

Of kindness after

Parching droughted meanness

Of long-awaited holiday

Gatherings after months

Of dark loneliness

It’s a story

Where a crooked

Smile sets to

Light a string

Of otherwise dim

Bulbs you reminded

Me of this

And it’s you

That has become

Yet once again

My favorite story