At Heart

I sometimes feel

I don’t know

what things are made of anymore,

don’t understand

how people live,

what they do behind their doors,

how they afford to be there, 

how they fill their days,

how they find a way

to make it all work

And then sometimes I get a chance to see

the grand complexity of someone else’s life —

the trials and hurdles, 

joys and satisfaction,

with what they’ve made their lives

and what they have been given

And there I see the way

that we are all the same,

however different our paths have been —

we radiate our fervor from the same source,

we share, at heart, the same core.

©Wendy Mulhern

September 7, 2017