Two poems by Milton P. Ehrlich

All She Ever Wanted

Was the light of astonishment—

watching a white narcissus bulb

secured in a pot on her old pine desk.

It bloomed like Venus rising from the sea

in front of the morning sun-filled window.

Moment to moment, she monitored

the re-birth of beauty with her every breath,

transfixed in her bones as the flower unfurled

in the mystical grace of that radiant moment.

Final Report Card

Lying at ease in a pine box

I struggled to hear everything

that was being said about me.

Those who knew me best—

sobbed hysterically, and

could barely speak coherently.

The only moment of levity

was when it was reported

that a grandson once asked

me what I do at work all day.

As a therapist, I probably said:

I try to make people happy.

He replied: What do you do,

tickle people all day?

I laughed my way into the world beyond.

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Milton P. Ehrlich Ph.D. is an 88-year-old psychologist and a veteran of the Korean War. He has published poems in The Antigonish Review, London Grip, Arc Poetry Magazine, Descant Literary Magazine, Wisconsin Review, Red Wheelbarrow, Christian Science Monitor, and The New York Times.