I should like to help everyone—if possible—Jew, Gentile, black man, white.
We all want to help one another.
Human beings are like that.
We want to live by each other’s happiness—not by each other’s misery.
We don’t want to hate and despise one another.
In this world there is room for everyone.
And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone.
The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.
Greed has poisoned men’s souls….
We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in.
Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want.
Our knowledge has made us cynical.
Our cleverness, hard and unkind.
We think too much and feel too little.
More than machinery we need humanity.
More than cleverness we need kindness….

 
# # #
 
I lost the tip of my finger praying to the god of my government
Now I can’t wag my [tsk-tsk] finger at the folks who drive to fast
So today and everyday I look in the mirror and I decide
To turn my life and will over to the care of gravity
It’s the mystery of the universe—the wild kindness
The only non-delusional response to the spinning and the pulling
Going on around our universe

# # #

K-I-N-D-N-E-S-S

Sister of mine
Where did you go?
I loved you, now I’m leaving

Brother of mine
What do you know?
You’re a wild kindness

# # #

I walked out the Red Door today
I kissed the ground and I wasn’t afraid
I knew I would not float away
I unpacked my bags, unclicked the belay

I wish I looked like Gregory Peck
And was as kind as Saint Francis
In the dying we’re reborn again
The more we give, the longer the kiss
It’s the time I make and the care I take
It’s the stopping on the way to mend an ache
It’s the honest word to an insolent mind
It’s the doing of things I’d rather not do

It’s setting a bone for a broken soul.
It’s holding my tongue when I want to say more
It’s letting gravity pull my life and will down
To non-delusional, kinder ground