Good day, team.
April is poetry month, and it always gives me an opportunity to share one of my favorite poems. Poetry speaks to our inner being more than our external personalities. It has a way of revealing something that we know is so true, that we can hardly believe someone put it in words, in just that way, with such beauty and eloquence.
Special thanks to my wonderful friend Vanessa who introduced me to this poem.
Kindness
Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.
Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.
Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
it is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you every where
like a shadow or a friend.
~ Naomi Shahib Nye
Your challenge this week is to find a poem or excerpt of prose that speaks to you. This assignment should not be difficult for those of you who love poetry, but if you don’t, try to at least take some time to explore a little — you just might find something that appeals to you. Sometimes the best poems are simple and short. Other times, a great poem is found in an entire book that describes an epic saga or journey. Whatever form it takes, find the poem that truly inspires you.
Have a good week,
Kathleen
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