The Karma of Kindness

    - Helen Burke

There is nothing you can discover about kindness, but rather
Kindness discovers you.
From an early age I practiced kindness...
(It was easier then.)
Sometimes kindness came home with me and sometimes
I came home with it,
It was my wayward , special friend.

Now kindness has gone home on the bus by itself…
Kindness has left the building. And yet , still within the
World’s core it breathes.
Kindness does not call the vulnerable names and I am
Proud to be its friend.
Now , I am the juggler, the plate spinner of kindness .
The heated murmur of its truth, is in my heart
And in my head.
From an early age I practiced kindness.
(It was easier then.)

Did I say
To fly this kindness bird it is so hard now , harder than I
Could have believed.
As if a part of me had died for the bird itself to live.
The kindness that you bring to me has the scent of
Sweet briar gathered at the roadsides edge.

The hands of kindness carry me through the day.
They are your hands, always yours.
You paint me in kindness and I am glad you do.
We have dreamed of such peace you and I
And a world with no end , still to come.
The hope of the world , as we dream it
With all the sky above us, and all the grass beneath our feet chattering and jostling
In beauty...
The hope for all of us , you should know.
It lies in kindness.

It lies in kindness.

*
Helen Burke has been writing poetry for 45 years and has received several competition victories including the Torbay Prize 2013, Manchester International, the Devon and Dorset, and Suffolk Poetry Prize. Her new collection, 'Today the Birds will Sing,' published by Valley Press UK (www.valleypressuk.com) will be out in Summer/Fall of 2017. She holds a Masters degree in Literature.

The above image, 'Startled Flight,' is by Helen Burke. Also see, https://www.origamipoems.com/poets/50-helen-burke

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Read this and the 60+ poems in 'The Best of Kindness 2017' available on Amazon.com or from our publisher's CreateSpace e-store: https://www.createspace.com/7018282