“A Roman officer came up to ask if (Jesus) would do something for a paralyzed servant back home, and Jesus said he’d go have a look at him. When the officer said he hated to take that much of his time and asked if he couldn’t just do something from right there where they were standing, Jesus was so impressed by the way the man trusted him that he told him he’d see to it that what he trusted would happen would happen indeed, and when the officer got home, he found his servant up and around again.”
— Frederick Buechner

The poet asked a friend
if he would be so kind
as to write a review of

the poet’s latest book.
He didn’t want to im-
pose on the friend, but

the book meant a lot
to him and the poet
trusted and respected

his friend. The friend
said sure and there
occurred an affirmation

of the book and an
affirmation of the poet
because the book was

an extension of the poet
and a distinct warming
of the heart of the poet

for the friend who went
out of the way to enliven
the spirit of another.

And Jesus smiled.