Kindness<\/b>
\nby Naomi Shihab Nye<\/i><\/p>\n
Before you know what kindness really is
\nyou must lose things,
\nfeel the future dissolve in a moment
\nlike salt in a weakened broth.
\nWhat you held in your hand,
\nwhat you counted and carefully saved,
\nall this must go so you know
\nhow desolate the landscape can be
\nbetween the regions of kindness.
\nHow you ride and ride
\nthinking the bus will never stop,
\nthe passengers eating maize and chicken
\nwill stare out the window forever.<\/p>\n
Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
\nyou must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
\nlies dead by the side of the road.
\nYou must see how this could be you,
\nhow he too was someone
\nwho journeyed through the night with plans
\nand the simple breath that kept him alive.<\/p>\n
Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
\nyou must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
\nYou must wake up with sorrow.
\nYou must speak to it till your voice
\ncatches the thread of all sorrows
\nand you see the size of the cloth.<\/p>\n
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
\nonly kindness that ties your shoes
\nand sends you out into the day to mail letters and purchase bread,
\nonly kindness that raises its head
\nfrom the crowd of the world to say
\nIt is I you have been looking for,
\nand then goes with you everywhere
\nlike a shadow or a friend.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kindness by Naomi Shihab Nye Before you know what kindness really is you must lose things, feel the future dissolve in a moment like salt in a weakened broth. What you held in your hand, what you counted and carefully saved, all this must go so you know how desolate the landscape can be between […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poems"],"yoast_head":"\n