In silence I contemplate this

beautiful world,

with beautiful landscapes 

and beautiful people,

with beautiful care

that’s there beyond the

shabby walls that shut us

out from each other’s

true eyes.

 

In silence I feel for the other,

for the sister and the brother

of this multitudinous family

that lives around me,

and in me,

and far away.

 

In silence I see into this

living soul that is my

good self,

my bad self,

my self of indifference

that views the other

with coloured eyes,

and I, in my silence,

am terrified by what

I see.

 

In silence I contemplate truth,

not as some ideal of absent gods

removed from flesh and blood

and the travail of tears,

but in the mess of humanity–

in living together rough, and working

out how we can be united,

clenching hand-in-hand

as sisters and brothers,

as family surviving together,

thriving together,

working together,

believing together

that heaven is possible,

even if it is not there at all.

 

In silence I contemplate beauty,

and it is you that I see.

 

19/10/2019