<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></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=""><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">In Every Country</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;"><br class=""></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">1.</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">The ocean is broad and changefully constant</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">A single wind envelopes the globe</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">In every country where seeds </p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">fall on fertile ground, they sprout.</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;"><br class=""></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">Kindness is not portioned nor is</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">compassion divided</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;"><br class=""></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">Yet somewhere, not here,</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">ears strain to hear the </p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">approaching drone.</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;"><br class=""></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">2.</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">In every country where yeast meets</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">water and flour, it blooms.</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">For some the bread is rich and plentiful</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">nutmeats and dried fruit</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">honey, butter and jam.</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;"><br class=""></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">Elsewhere, the grain is weak</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">the dough gray with adulteration</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">but at each oven</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">children gather </p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">bakers' labor.</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;"><br class=""></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">Wherever there and eyes and mouths and hands –</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">let there be bread to fill them</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;"><br class=""></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">3.</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">Having suffered, who turns to</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">bring suffering to others?</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;"><br class=""></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">Having been terrorized, who</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">chooses to terrorize another?</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;"><br class=""></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">There is fear in every country</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">In every country, hope.</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;"><br class=""></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">In every country mothers cover </p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">the faces of their babies; fathers figure </p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">the calculus of protection.</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">In every country children close their hands around small treasures –</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">amulets, talismans to guard them from danger.</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;"><br class=""></p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">Every country lives amongst their </p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">dead, buried beneath them.</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">In every country tales are told.</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">What tales will be told of these times</p><p class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 18px;">when peril walks in every land?</p><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Bob Engel</div></div></body></html>