Kindness

Let the light of kindness

shine upon us all

now in the low time of the sun’s angle

when momentary gleams offer

bittersweet awareness —

a few bright leaves among the bare branches

lit up against the dark clouds

Let kindness be the warmth

upon the tangled coil

of hunching inward against the cold,

let it glow upon 
the laughter stretched too thin 
to counter tension

At the touch of kindness

we can uncurl,

stretch out the places that were cramped and pained,

open outward into the comfort

of seeing there’s a place for us again

And as we are kind,

we will feel the flow of golden,

spreading richly through our limbs,

suffusing skin,

promising sustenance 

lasting through winter’s chill

bringing us supple

into spring’s sweet rays.

©Wendy Mulhern

November 17, 2016