I saw this poem last week. Not on my all-time-favorites list, but certainly, in its sweet unpretentious way, good enough to keep:
Small Kindnesses
by Danusha Laméris
by Danusha Laméris
I've been thinking about the way, when you walk
down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs
to let you by. Or how strangers still say "bless you"
when someone sneezes, a leftover
from the Bubonic plague. "Don't die," we are saying.
And sometimes, when you spill lemons
from your grocery bag, someone else will help you
pick them up. Mostly, we don't want to harm each other.
We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot,
and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile
at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress
to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder,
and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass.
We have so little of each other, now. So far
from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange.
What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these
fleeting temples we make together when we say, "Here,
have my seat," "Go ahead—you first," "I like your hat."
down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs
to let you by. Or how strangers still say "bless you"
when someone sneezes, a leftover
from the Bubonic plague. "Don't die," we are saying.
And sometimes, when you spill lemons
from your grocery bag, someone else will help you
pick them up. Mostly, we don't want to harm each other.
We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot,
and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile
at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress
to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder,
and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass.
We have so little of each other, now. So far
from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange.
What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these
fleeting temples we make together when we say, "Here,
have my seat," "Go ahead—you first," "I like your hat."
Small kindnesses are certainly worth celebrating, especially with the lack of kindness so much in the news. So, let’s celebrate them. The act of paying attention to small kindnesses will improve the quality of your life. Please share with me acts of kindness that you have done or observed, and I will publish the list on a future blog. I will do it anonymously, for the whole point is the selflessness of these acts of kindness. Write me at dstring@ix.netcom.com. It would be kind of you to do so.
Very nice David....
ReplyDeleteI have always felt a KIND SMILE of I see you can brighten anyone up...
As the world turns today...people do not even notice anymore or are even annoyed....Seriously.....BUT IT IS A MUST to keep it going....
Please give Kim an EXTRA smile today from Her Summer Neighbor....think of you both often....ENJOY THE DAY!
Very nice David....
ReplyDeleteI have always felt a KIND SMILE of I see you can brighten anyone up...
As the world turns today...people do not even notice anymore or are even annoyed....Seriously.....BUT IT IS A MUST to keep it going....
Please give Kim an EXTRA smile today from Her Summer Neighbor....think of you both often....ENJOY THE DAY!
Who wrote this? Sandy?
Delete