Rub Me Tender

Some days, 

maybe most lately, 

little matters 

of maintenance 

that were a mindless routine

before this melon-hued darkness

revealed our own so easily,

so brutally, can now be a challenge, 

a slog, one. more. thing. 

Now, for many of us 

who will always know empathy is

a good thing and that our mission is

to decrease suffering, if not end it,

and assuredly to not add to it 

or create it 

or vote for it, 

we can find mornings our first nearly

insurmountable challenge of the day -

meeting the day heavy 

with the grief of injustice, 

the heartache of loss. 

So, just getting out of bed,

brushing our teeth, 

facing our reflection 

in the mirror, risking 

our first interaction, 

our next conversation, 

the vulnerable reaching 

in before out, can feel like polishing

our hope that tarnishes 

with the rub of the Spirit 

that doesn't, our polishing cloth,

dance-down-soft, chant-worn, 

and prayer-stained, moves us again, 

to our own surprise, to find,

hand on the door, keys in hand,

doubt in mind, but a song rising

from our deeper foundation,

lifting us to lift others, 

every voice in shalom.

-pdk