our old friend Martin

Questions

Did you see the man we can call

“our old friend Martin”?

It seems the good they die young,

but we can remember

the goodness that he preached,

and the goodness that he lived,

and we can murmur his name

as we do a good thing today,

and do the same tomorrow.

The man called Martin

pointed the way

and he asked many questions.

He recalled the Good Samaritan who asked:

“If I do not stop to help this man,

what will happen to him?”

The man called Martin said:

“The question is, ‘If I do not stop

to help the sanitation workers,

what will happen to them?’

That’s the question.”

Martin said “I have been to the mountaintop.”

The mountaintop is far,

maybe a lifetime journey away,

and few of us may make it

to the mountaintop,

but we can murmur Martin’s name

as we do a good thing today

and do the same tomorrow.

Will you do a good thing today?

That’s the question.

January 2, 2026

* * * * * *

Book review: The Comanche Empire

the other story of the American West…

by Pekka Hämäläinen

click here

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As with another eye: Poems of exactitude with 55 free verse and haiku poems,

and the rest of my poetry books are for sale on Amazon (paperback and Kindle)

and free in Kindle Unlimited, search Amazon for “Richard Carl Subber”

Your comments are welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.