Milton P. Ehrlich, Ph.D. is an 87-year-old psychologist and a veteran of the Korean War. He has published many poems in periodicals such as the London Grip, Arc Poetry Magazine, Descant Literary Magazine, Wisconsin Review, Taj Mahal Literary Journal, Antigonish Review, Ottawa Arts Review, Red Wheelbarrow, Huffington Post, Christian Science Monitor, and the New York Times.

My Melancholy Baby

languishes
in a sea of sadness
until I touch her.
She blossoms
like paperwhites
on my windowsill
in morning sunlight.
She’s doomed, stunned
and weary, wears a mask
of an imperfect bird.
She grew up on a farm
with a mother who
treated her like just
one more goat
waiting to be fed.
I extinguish the flames
of suicidal ideation,
a poultice for her soul.
She smiles. I show her
how to sit still.