Compassion.

We watch and listen,

stand witness to the circumstances that ravage other hearts

and our own are stretched

beyond the comfort of the familiar.

We respond, our actions scripted by the very word we seek to live:

com-passion – “to suffer” “together”.

But more ancient roots bind us to a deeper truth,

a primal connection,

the rhythmic pulse that takes us

back to our beginnings,

the womb out of which life pushed us forth.

There, for a time, was oneness,

satiety,

untroubled truths.

May our hearts open with

compassion,

create a womb of peace for those whose lives are stark with terror,

riven with discord, bleak with despair

that they may sense connection,

sort through troubled truths,

and find a fullness they had lost.

And may life,

push them forth once more

in due time,

even as it opens its arms to receive them.

Fresh. New. Alive.