Sundered fences
Leave me vulnerable
To intimacy
And possibility
So I shore them up
Defend against
Betrayals
And failure
Hoping all the while
Someone will breach them
Armed with no more
Than love and compassion
Tag: compassion
Song to Silence
I wake in the mornings
Mind always in a foggy mist
To find, always
Like a whisper in the silence
Rising to become song
You are there
Nothing so rouses
My faded spirit
As your voice of grace
And compassion
Singing love to this soul
That’s lived in silence
Serpentine
This serpentine life
I dip into
And out of
Joy
Into and out of
Despair
Into and out of
Love
Into and out of
Grief
Knowing there will always be
Joy and despair
Love and grief
Accepting that each will come
As it will
And too shall pass
As it will
Learning to flow through each
With gratitude
And compassion
As I move through life
All the while
Exploring the landscape
Of possibility
One of Many Paths to Goodness
Raised beneath
Steeples and spires
Kneeling Sitting Standing
In pews row on row
First Holy Communion
Confirmation
Confession
Ash Wednesday
Palm Sunday
Incense and palm leaves
Midnight Mass
Now another confession:
Never a believer
Earliest memories
Saying what was expected
Doing what was expected
Praying aloud the lie on my lips
Though there were Pastors
Two at least
Who made as much
A philosophy of sermon
As theology
Who bespoke love
And compassion
Forgiveness
And kindness
As if these were as important
As believing in Father, Son and Holy Ghost
I kept the compassionate love
Discarded the trinity
And for a long while
Wanted nothing to do
With religion
Or the religious
Until I finally saw
The strength faith gives my mother
Courage, resilience, tenacity
Powered by compassion, love and kindness
All in God’s name
Now I understand
Something about the nature of goodness
And the many paths we may travel
To bring ourselves to the love
Which is its foundation
Frailty
To frailty
There is a power
Borne of compassion
There is a power
Borne of compassion
When compassion fails
Frailty is where the boot comes down
The hardest
On the Finer Points of the Grandiose
I like to imagine a society
Which would erect such grand monuments
Only after the eradication of
Which would erect such grand monuments
Only after the eradication of
Poverty
Inequity
Subjugation
Though I rather imagine such a society
Would have little interest
In erecting such grand monuments
Perhaps such a society
Would be too busy building
On its commitment to
Love
Compassion
Generosity
Strands in the Rope
We are threaded
All these many layers deep
Strands in the twine
Twine in the rope
Rope in a braid
Sometimes frayed
Sometimes cut
Sometimes broken
Sundered
But always
Knit together again
Our existential naturale
All these many layers deep
Strands in the twine
Twine in the rope
Rope in a braid
Sometimes frayed
Sometimes cut
Sometimes broken
Sundered
But always
Knit together again
Our existential naturale
The strands seek the strength
Of numbers
Of diverse fibre
The twist that binds
Knotted to the cleat
That is love
That is compassion
That is empathy
But ever tested
By the pull of anger
Sheared by fear
Sundered by hate
But always
Knit together again
All strands in the rope
Mass ~ Pic and a Word Challenge #221
Heavier even than Earth
Yet I soar
A majestic dirigible
Yet I soar
A majestic dirigible
Laden with history
And regrets
Lofted by hope
And purpose
Levied by love
And compassion
Most days I carry the weight
Lightly, aloft
Some days I cannot leave the berth
Tethered, grounded
So I touch the Earth
Am grateful for its stability
That I always have a place to land
Rest, and free myself of burdens
Then breathe deeply
Filled and empty
I take to the skies again
The Guilt in Her Eye
Who would I be
Without the guilt
In a sad, lonely eye
Reflecting back at me
Without the guilt
In a sad, lonely eye
Reflecting back at me
Who would I be
Without the self-doubt
Without the self-pity
Without the self-hate
Which accompanies it
What if I could show
Myself the compassion
Myself the kindness
Myself the forgiveness
I offer so freely to others
Pix to Words 