Noblesse Poem by Herbert Nehrlich

She did show me,
the little ones, green,
luscious thin velvet,
the lot of them
had three, not four.

But now and then,
if you had cleaned
your plate at dinner,
your ears at bathtime,
your room more often
and your language
during recess,
there would be,
waiting, somewhere,
often in the shade
of stinging nettles,
your just reward.

A four-leaf clover,
so symmetrical,
times two, at that
and looking so...
well unpretentious,
as if quite unaware
of its own beauty.

You were allowed
to touch it briefly,
but not to pick
and carry it away.

Lest on the days
to follow this, the lucky
although earned one,
you would be there,
and make a face
of disappointment,
because rewards
are catching,
like colds and sniffles.

And so it is
with friendship,
there is only one,
not many kinds,
or variations,
to have a friend
who knows he is
must be akin
to finding that
elusive clover.

It is a distant cousin
to the Alpine Edelweiss.
And both of them
do know their friends
and live in kinship,
a true noblesse.