for Robert Ross

My friend has raised this
as a possibility
not thinking it's the words themselves
much less the argument
rather the healing spirit
that comes through
the words and through the mouths
of those that speak them
touching the heart
a spirit neither pious nor impious
but fresh and joyful
evoked by the regard
in which two people
hold eachother each one seeing
in the other
that which is precious beyond price
the thing my friend
chooses to call
the truly human