Everywhere I go, I find them—
people who bring love to the world.
Reading the headlines,
I sometimes think love is dead
and humans are brutes
and we may as well all give up.
But every time I leave home,
I meet pedestrians who wave
and women who give understanding nods,
and men who offer to pay when the person
in front of them is short a few bucks.
People hold doors for each other with a smile
and I’ve seen folks pick up trash
off the sidewalk and go out of their way
to not step on a beetle or a worm.
My friend Wayne says,
We have to love the world
to want to save it,
and sometimes, I think
it just might happen—
though every day unspeakable cruelty
happens on these same streets.
Oh this world.
Even as I feel my guard go up,
I see strangers chatting on the corner
as they wait for the bus,
notice how their laughter
threads through the noise of the day
like a song, like a kite.
I appreciate the hopefulness of your poems!
oh friend, in the face of despair … and then there it is, goodness.
“…like a kite.” oh my….yum!
ah, thank you, Carol!
I wish we could make hope as contagious as covid!!
oh friend, me, too! and kindness, too …
It’s all about looking for the beauty in others isn’t it? You teach us this through the beauty of your poetry, sneaking the lessons in the way spoons full of sugar help the medicine go down.
I think my mother especially is the kind of person practices seeing the beauty in others, and i had her example as a girl–shaped me a lot. and my dad is a spoonful of sugar master!
I love how you see threads of hope, rising high as kites, as if they’re lightly carrying themselves against life’s challenging winds. Your poetry is a balm for a jaded heart and a tonic for a world-weary soul. Thank you! 🙂
thank you, Joy … poetry helps my heart and soul, too. daily.