I breathe in each story with honest breath
I let grief tremble in my throat
I let compassion quicken my spirit
I let anger simmer, unthwarted
The usual questions gently raise their voice
and call me to alignment and account –
a regular examination of heart, practice, commitments.
Feeling into connection with all my neighbors and kin
burdened by lineages of cruelty and apathy,
I resolve again to live my portion of life
loyal to only that which serves
the freedom of the earth itself
the freedom of every captive being
the freedom that reaches toward futures
where all of our children are
fed, supported, and at ease in their play.
Taking my small place in the whole of things,
I ground my hope in the less obvious –
in the communities of the bothered and grieving,
the organizing, the creating, the truth-telling,
the tapped-in to the sacred thing tugging on every corner of life
relentlessly, ruthlessly, loving us a way home.
m jade kaiser