What We Know Our Hearts Need

We live
Amidst
The tension
 
Of what we know
Our hearts
Need
 
And what
The world
Has available

Knowing well that
What is available
Doesn’t change
What is needed

We live
Amidst
This tension
 
Each and every day

And somehow we
Make do

Kept

Kept warm
Kept safe
Kept loved
Kept together

Not every need
Perfectly met

But enough needs met
To keep me whole

Enough needs met
To keep me

Kept

Spread Good Widely

In the middle
Of this
Sometimes threatening
And always unpredictable
World

Though control
Over what comes next
Is not ours
To have
 
Though life may end
Too early

And unexpectedly
 
And in ways
More painful
Than can be
Imagined
 
May we continue
To spread good
Widely
 
Freely
 
Courageously
 
For no reason other
Than that
This world
So badly
Needs it

Identity

Our identity starts
With the families
We are born into
 
They are the first
To tell us
Who we are
And what we are good at

Show us our place
As they see it
In our family
In our world
 
Later
Our identity
Is further shaped
By our friends
Churches
Schools
Workplaces

And it’s good to have so much shaping us

It’s good to have a mirror

It’s good to have who we are
Reflected back to us
So we know
What to change
What to keep

But lately
I’ve been wondering

At what point
We stop
Inviting others

To tell us who we are

At what point do we say
 
Thank you for the input
It has served me well
 
But I now have
Within me
A sense
Of who I am

And I
Will take it
From here

Water the Plants

I don’t want a life
So filled with distraction

That I forget
To water
The plants

Forget to nourish
Another life
Because I’m so busy 
Rushing mine

I want to relish
Watering the plants
Cooking complicated recipes slowly
Reading for hours with a dog by my side

I want
A life
That reminds me
To live
 
A life that sends
Wake up calls
In the form of
Plants
Recipes
And dogs
 
A life that thrives
With thoughtful attention

To all the small
Important
Things
 
That make 
Our time here
Worthwhile 

Shots Fired

Shots fired
Randomly
With intent
 
To end the lives
Of those hit

To deeply wound
The lives
Of witnesses and loved ones
Who remain

Souls lost
Instantly
Resting now
In a peace
The shooter
Did not know

And what peace
Can there be
For those
Who remain
 
In a world stripped
Of the illusion
Of protection
 
No answers from me
Just the question
 
What peace
 
How peace
 
And if we
Find the path
To peace
Once again

Could we show
Each other
The way 

Let Myself Remember

Mostly I move forward
Walk gently
Live open
Without fear

Despite all

That I
Have been through

But on this day
I stop

I let myself remember
 
All of it
 
Every painful detail

On this day
I allow myself
To feel
The full depth
Of what
I lived through

I do this
To honor
Me
 
To show my pain
Well deserved
Respect

I do this
Because I survived
The unthinkable

I did that

I made it

And while I’m
Not one
To sit and dwell

This day
Is sacred

Set aside

To let myself
Remember
The pain

A difficult practice

Perfected in solitude

That also

Reminds me clearly

Of my strength

We Say We Want Peace

We say we want peace
A simpler world
Filled with
Community gardens
Sunshine
Kindness

Yet we live like savages

We stomp on our neighbor’s gardens
We block the sunshine
We are so incredibly
Un-kind

We take
More than
We need

We take
What we
Could leave
 
We take
Each other’s
Parking spaces

We say that we want peace
And then go right on living
In ways that prove
We don’t