February 17th was Random Act of Kindness Day ,here is a poem by one of our regular readers to celebrate.

You warp, I’ll weft

By Mike Bell

I still remember the shop-lady in Sunderland

Who called me “pet”.

What did I buy?  Sweets?  A drink?  Illicit fags?

Who knows?

But I do know that a southern boy

Found a sudden unaccustomed warmth.

Of such material our lives are made,

The unexpected kingfisher connection.

Threads cross and, seldom, re-cross.

Stand back, and we could see the pattern.

A design?  Perhaps, but made of countless choices freely made.

If such encounters form a seamless whole,

Then how much more closely joined are we

To those with whom we choose to yarn awhile.

Absent friends?  Maybe.

But they are those we know, have always known,

And, like church bells heard afar, will know forever more.