<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class="">Kindness</span></div><div class=""><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;" class=""><br class=""></span></div></div><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> </span></p><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Before you know what kindness really is</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">you must lose things,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">feel the future dissolve in a moment</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">like salt in a weakened broth.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">What you held in your hand,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">what you counted and carefully saved,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">all this must go so you know</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">how desolate the landscape can be</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">between the regions of kindness.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">How you ride and ride</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">thinking the bus will never stop,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">the passengers eating maize and chicken </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">will stare out the window forever.</span></div><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> </span></p><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness, </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">lies dead by the side of the road.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">You must see how this could be you,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">how he too was someone</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">who journeyed through the night with plans </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">and the simple breath that kept him alive.</span></div><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> </span></p><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside, </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing. </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">You must wake up with sorrow.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">You must speak to it till your voice</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">catches the thread of all sorrows</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">and you see the size of the cloth.</span></div><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> </span></p><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">only kindness that ties your shoes</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">and sends you out into the day to mail letters and purchase bread,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">only kindness that raises its head</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">from the crowd of the world to say</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">it is I you have been looking for,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">and then goes with you every where</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">like a shadow or a friend.</span></div><p style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""> </span></p><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Naomi Shihab Nye</span></div><div class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="font-kerning: none" class="">If you would like to hear my recitation of this poem you can visit my YouTube channel at </span><a href="https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCbpQek0uPRd7HsDZzC_RMvg/videos/upload?filter=[]&sort={%22columnType%22:%22date%22,%22sortOrder%22:%22DESCENDING%22}" class="">https://studio.youtube.com/channel/UCbpQek0uPRd7HsDZzC_RMvg/videos/upload?filter=%5B%5D&sort=%7B%22columnType%22%3A%22date%22%2C%22sortOrder%22%3A%22DESCENDING%22%7D</a></div><div class=""><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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