On Criticism

 

No censure or unneeded praise
comes from a master, only roads
gone upwards.  A true guide will raise,
by coaxing or at times with goads,
the seeker to an equal plane
if such exists.  To crush does naught
but shrink the pool; small fish may gain
and yet that kind is always caught.
A poem only ends when we
decide to close our eyes; no page
holds everything there ought to be
if closed off minds will not engage.