giving to get, and giving to give

You have too much
zuccini, say, and you give it away
and it feels good to pass it along
and that's that

you're having a good day
you want another person to be happy
and you smile
and sing them a song
or take them a batch of flowers
or invite them for a walk

and that's nice,

you've got extra and you're passing it along

or, you're just alive
and thrilled with that
and you meet another
and they like your garden
and you can't wait to give them a batch of flowers

so,
nature,
zuchini, flowers, hugs, laughs, smiles, walks,
songs
lots of ways to give

and then there's the Gift,
capital G,
and it's "supposed to mean something"
and maybe it does
maybe it doesn't

sometimes gifts come
with no strings
like:
i saw this book and I thought of you,
here

lots of times they come with
worry:
here's some special something because I'm worried
you don't like me enough
and I want to buy your love

or they come expecting
AT LEast
the
BIG THANKS

the "oh, you were so wonderful for getting me that"

or, even better,

the BIG THANKS plus a reassessment:
you aren't so bad,
I let you off the hook,
I'll stop being grumpy and
love you again

in Brother's Karamazov
there's a great talk by an old gal
who wants to be nice to the poor,
but is afraid to,
because she knows how pissed off
she'll be if they don't kiss
her ass
with enough gratitude

we can have a lot of fun
recalling when we've been
like that

good