Cuddle your curmudgeons
Lay their heads in your lap
Stroke their hair
But do not take their frowns into yourself
Don’t match their myriad complaints
with irritations of your own,
frustration since you just can’t make them see —
For if you do
you mirror forth
that same old bitter world
that you so want to tell them isn’t real.
Cuddle your curmudgeons
whether they live within you
or are people who in some way
share your life
For if you do, then day by day
you’ll show them
Life’s more than disappointment, stress, and strife.
Cuddle your curmudgeons
For they are tender souls
They need to know your care
is unconditional.
©Wendy Mulhern
May 20, 2012