the glue that keeps me together some days

Last night some of the Quails went out for dinner. Let me say that the Kimchee fries at Boru (75th and Wornall in Kansas City) are insanely delicious and I am sorry I did not get a photo of them. Go there and get some if you are local. Now back to the more important business of this post. We "unpacked our bags" with each other. In other words, we reflected on the hardness of the world on so many levels right now, chewed over our worries, and expressed gratitude for the gift of friendship. 

Below is another favorite poem that seems right for tonight along with the peonies from my table. Friendship, poetry, flowers, kindness it's the glue that keeps me together some days.

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 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 gaze at 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.

 

Helpful links: Boru Asian Eatery

Comments

[Chris Oliveira]

Awesome poem.

[Linda Watson]

Thank you.

[Sharron Carleton]

Yes, yes, yes, i rely on that same brand of glue too… xox

[carol]

I hope all of you will share your favorite poetry in the comments... I love finding new poets

[barbara dunbar]

Lovely poem, lovely Peonies. I just cut bunches from my yard. 4 vases full. We wait so long for them to bloom, then they are gone so quickly!

[Carol]

Barbara! 4 vases in the way to do it :-) immerse yourself totally in the peony experience.