START WITH WHAT YOU LOVE

 

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Maybe you find yourself heartsick, grief a lump
in your chest, and you do a checkup: health reasonable,
home peaceful, some food in the fridge. Then you
expand the circle: one son in a nursing home,
post-stroke, one daughter struggling to keep
her head above water, working too many jobs.

Then, wider still, and yes, here it is: bombs falling,
civilians suffering: innocent Israelis attacked
by terrorists and brutally slaughtered; desperate
Palestinian civilians living the hell of bombs
dropping, uncared for by their own government.
So much hatred, so much suffering, 
yet the bottom line: civilians, just people,
suffering, dying, starving, displaced.

One grows silent, not knowing  what to say,
for fear of angering one side or the other,
hearing and understanding the suffering
of both. And then being called out
for being wordless, when one is expected
to take a side, and one's "side" is humanity,
so often at the mercy of its leaders, including
here in North America.

A sick feeling that all is not well with the world:
anti-Semitism rising, anti-Muslim sentiment
rising, right-wing, trump cult, versus left wing
keepers of Democracy - everyone seen as Other, not as Us.
How to move forward in the world? Does it matter
if I clean the house or let the dust gather?
Does it help if I send some cash to my son
or a bag of dog kibble to my daughter? Does it help
when so many humans (and dogs)
are without food and water and the sky
is raining bombs?

Start with what you love, the poet said, so 
I go to the beach and watch the waves rolling in
under a blue sky, surfers riding the crests joyously,
happy dogs frolicking on the sand. I come home
to my peaceful rooms and remember
to be grateful. But I never forget that,
across the sea, bombs are falling,
a living hell for all in the right place but
at the wrong time. Knowing that,
even here, even now, as far away as North America,
things can always get worse.

Inspired by "Start With What You Love" by Laurie Wagner of Wild Writing.