Kindness by Naomi Shihab Nye

It was a beautiful Christmas. I was blessed to have my girls with me.

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 save,
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 sorry as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak 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 any 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 everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.

Category:

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Tags:

• poetry
• naomi
• shihab
• nye
• kindness
• christmas
• relationships
• sadness
• sorrow
• love

[romajose777]

hola eres hermosa ees la mama de la familia ingalls ? you are mother ?

[Poetivity]

Yes, I am a mother.

Si'

[virtualrabbi]

Kim, your resilience will lead to recovery. Willingness will lead to openings.

A thought: simple kindness is not always true kindness, but if there is a doubt, err on the side of simplicity.

Ben

[Poetivity]

Your advice is always so wise...I NEED A RABBI!

[virtualrabbi]

Did I tell you, or did I tell you... :-)

Ben

[Poetivity]

you told me!

[mutherh]

I love much poetry - but this has to be my favourite poem of all time. I stumbled across it in an anthology 'Being Alive' from Bloodaxe Books.

I'm a humanist at heart; was brought up Christian and am familiar with the idea of love being the greatest thing. I don't know, but I suspect the 'love' referred to in the Gospels (we have to take into account translation into English)is the Greek 'agape' which would translate as 'kindness'.

Thanks for reading the poem and good luck for the future.

[charlottepoet]

i just read this poem last week..coincidence :)

[reliablebow]

sorrow...then only kindness

[reliablebow]

THank-you-a favorite of mine too.

[3149wilmarth]

"the tender gravity of kindness" hmmmmm...what endless opportunities exist to walk in the kindness born of pain or sorrow...what blessing it is to experience kindness birthed from such a place.

[GlennO55]

Yes, this poem has been with me in dark times too, and goes to my heart every time I hear it. 'it is only kindness that makes sense anymore' , yes and yes to that.

Very best wishes, Glenn

[changingone77]

I love hearing you read.

[dougmcnichol]

Depressing, ain't it?