-- The Most Beautiful Promise --

John Herlihy

The most beautiful promise,

The promise that need not be made.

The ever-eternal promise,

That needs no voice to be conveyed.

Some promises are given voice,

Simply to fade as an echo soon to vanish.

Some promises have us rejoice,

But soon broken, their meaning to tarnish.

Some promises capture a beauty,

A nugget of hope and trust, a mutual bond.

That loses the glow of its mystery,

To be empty promises with no need to respond.

The most beautiful promise never spoken,

Living knowledge, never shattered, never broken.

- - - - - -

(c) John Herlihy 4 July 2020