How Still the Riddle

Francine Tolf began writing poems when she was 20?at first rhyming poems, fledgling sonnets and ballads, and later through several decades developed her craft in various forms without losing her love and gift for rhythm, sound, and music: "My golden hair is turning gray, / my sins are sinned, my wild oats flung. / Now?s the time to pen a book / of rhymes for children old and young." The importance and appeal of nature, relationships, language, and the mysteries of our intricate connections with each other recur in these poems: "For now there?s neither eye nor voice nor sun / to question what you are, or feel, or see. / In kindness, I grant anonymity, / a gift no dawn can ever give. So come / and know some peace a while, be part of me." These poems are comforting while mindful of the uncertainties that challenge our lives: "There is no one to cry my secret to. / A deaf wind whispers, Even if there were, / your lover could not share it if he knew. / He could not pierce the secret to its core / and share it with you even if he knew." Francine?s late sister, Gale Tolf, created the beautiful ink and watercolor drawings. Gale found inspiration in myth, legend, and fairytale, a perfect complement to these thoughtful, loving, and life-fulfilling poems.