Kindness by Naomi Shihab Nye

I posted this poem last year when I found it in an issue of the "Oprah" magazine.  It had such a strong impact on me.  Right now I am going through a difficult time and I read this poem which I haven't looked at in a while and once again it had such an impact.

Kindness 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 the regions of kindness. How you ride and ride thinking the bus will never stop, the passengers eating maize and chicken will stare out the window forever. Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness, you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho lies dead by the side of the road. You must see how this could be you, how he too was someone who journeyed through the night with plans and the simple breath that kept him alive. Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside, you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing. You must wake up with sorrow. You must speak to it till your voice catches the thread of all sorrows and you see the size of the cloth. Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore, only kindness that ties your shoes and sends you out into the day to mail letters and      purchase bread, only kindness that raises its head from the crowd of the world to say it is I you have been looking for, and then goes with you every where like a shadow or a friend.

Saved by a Poem

When I was younger, in my late teens and early twenties I wrote poems.  I wouldn't call it Poetry because I really don't know if anyone else would.  But to me it was therapy and a way to express myself.  I loved writing poems.  I haven't written a poem in years and honestly don't know if I could.
The reason I am posting this is because I was looking through the April issue of "The Oprah Magazine" and came across a story and a poem that stopped me in my tracks!  The poem was written by Naomi Shihab Nye.  The short story in "O" was about a woman who encountered very trying times.  She had known about this poem "Kindness" but never really thought much about it until one day when hard times hit she was drawn to this poem.  "Kindness" by Naomi Shihab Nye actually became the prayer that carried her through the days and months to follow!

Kindness 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 the regions of kindness. How you ride and ride thinking the bus will never stop, the passengers eating maize and chicken will stare out the window forever. Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness, you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho lies dead by the side of the road. You must see how this could be you, how he too was someone who journeyed through the night with plans and the simple breath that kept him alive. Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside, you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing. You must wake up with sorrow. You must speak to it till your voice catches the thread of all sorrows and you see the size of the cloth. Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore, only kindness that ties your shoes and sends you out into the day to mail letters and      purchase bread, only kindness that raises its head from the crowd of the world to say it is I you have been looking for, and then goes with you every where like a shadow or a friend.

Naomi Shihab Nye
(another talented lady over fifty!)