SAY A WORD OF GRATITUDE.

Very beautiful writing.

Thank you very much, Lozzamus, for your appreciation. This is great encouragement to me.

Given the syntax of these lines:

He has a heart whose fabric is so soft
and longs for fingers that appreciate it

You are claiming that fabric longs for fingers that appreciate it.

And give the syntax here:

His heart relates its joy to those around.
It yearns to feed the others ere it eats.

You are claiming that the heart of the person you are speaking about "eats".

And these lines:

He asks the old, the weak, to come to him,
not only to feed them, but [to] gratify
his heart

make the grammar gaffed claim that the reason he wants others to come to him is grounded in a desire to be pleasured.

Nothing is worth answering, Baldwin.

"Nothing is worth answering, Baldwin."

So you say.  

But why should anyone trust your judgment on this matter without some explicit demonstration from you that the remarks I made are not true and that the way you have set out your lines do not contain the problems of coherence that I claimed they do?

The first two suggestions need some imagination to understand poetry. I am very glad that my readers have this imagination, and they started answering you.
Not only to feed them but gratify ...
To: can be omitted after the COORDINATOR, but. I previously explained that to you.

Ah yes, the old "it's your fault that you don't understand my 'poetry'.  It's all due to your lack of "imagination". There is absolutely no possibility that your lack of understanding is due to your writing poorly since that is something that's impossible for you to do! (Sarcasm).

But the fact that you say that one has to use imagination to understand what you write means that you have failed to do what is essential to good poetry -- clear and effective communication that does not demand that readers fill in what you perhaps intended to convey

And the issue is not whether "to" is syntactically implied,  but what you've conveyed is that your speaker does what he does because he wants to pleasure himself.  Thanks for missing my point and dwelling on a secondary matter.

And your "readerS" who have started "answering" me?  It looks like you've got two at most.  And they have hardly shown by specifying how and why what I've said about your submissions is not on point. And that's what "answering" me entails.  In any case, why should anyone take what they say with any degree of seriousness?  What makes you think they possess the critical acumen that is necessary to see what separates good writing from the bad?

"The first two suggestions need some imagination to understand poetry. "

So the key to understanding all poetry is to apply some "needed" imagination to the first two "suggestions" (or was it remarks?) I made about how the syntax of certain of your lines makes you end up saying some strange things?

That's the claim of your remark!

And it would take a great deal of imagination on a reader's part to see that the antecedent of  "it" in your line that reads "It yearns to feed the others ere it eats" is not "heart".

Lovely, JZ. Waking with a song of gratitude, or giving daily gratitude is so important in our everyday lives. I think you've penned out the perfect welcome mat for a weary heart to come and rest.

Thank you very much, Ahavati, for your extremely kind and poetic commit. It's a very beautiful comment.

Baldwin says:he wants to pleasure himself.
What do you mean by saying, TO PLEASURE himself? Do you mean TO PLEASE himself. If you do, yes l mean it. The person here finds pleasure in feeding more than eating.

But you didn't say that the man you speak of finds pleasure in doing what he does.  You said he does it to consciously and intentionally  **gratify** himself. According to your wording, the man you speak of has a selfish reason for doing what he does.  What motivates him is hedonism rather than altruism.

BTW,  if you are quoting me,  you should have written Baldwin says "he wants to pleasure himself".   A colon is not a quotation mark.

Cue the reply that focuses on this incidental remark of mine,  and not on my main contention.

Joseph this is a beautifully heartfelt poem. I love it's harmonious flow and proportion, the subtle depth of its details. Beautiful work.

Thank you very much, Daniel, for your very kind comment. I really appreciate your comments because l like your experience as a poet, and l like you as a dear friend.

I wonder if you realize that in saying  this:

He has a heart whose fabric is so soft
and longs for fingers that appreciate it
by giving touches that confirm its force

you have presented the person of whom you speak as someone who is in dire need of constant affirmation as well as a man who wants to be gratified?
.

Any person needs a good word. We thank God.

But we don't all long for it.  And besides that,  you said "finger touches"  not  a"word".