“Being good felt like a heavy coat, so I took it off.”
― Naomi Shihab Nye
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 everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.
― Naomi Shihab Nye
LIVING IN THIS MOMENT 
Beautiful words dear lady ❤️ 🙏🏽 🦋
Thank you Mark 😊🙏🏻
SUCH an incredible voice. Thank you for sharing, Karen. Xox
I agree Lori 💚🥰
truly beautiful.
It is Kiki. I love her work 👏💚
So lovely 💗💞
Thank you 🙏🏻
Oh, this is beautiful and so true. We are carved out so more kindness can enter . . .
Yes so true 👏👏💚
Beautiful and so very true Karen.
Thank you Michele 🙏🏻💚
I love this poem too. I never tire of reading it.
It’s beautiful. Thanks Ali 💚
Yes! Thank you for sharing this wisdom and bringing us to balance 💛🙏💛
Yes it is a balance. Thanks Val 💚
Love and charity are one. They are the ingredient of kindness. To love one’s neighbor as oneself ensures our incoming kindness in dispensing outgoing kindness to others.
-Alan
So true. Thank you Alan. 🙏🏻
Thanks for sharing this incredible work Karen!!
Thank you for being here 😊