Faithful to Faith

If there is only the northern wind that carries through the heat

If there is only a hand to hold before the raft sinks

If there is only a baby’s shoe left in the rubble

Still there is life / still there is life

A small strand to tug on, if only an inch

Feel it before it’s visible

Delicate and fragile, but there

Enough to grab—so we hold

A deepened worthiness to exist

In the daggered jaws of tragedy

In the bountiful bosom of beauty

In the grotesque cruelty of greed

This life with dandelions and dragon flies

The creatures with sharp teeth and soft bellies

There is goodness in the small gestures of small hands

There is evil in the large steps of man’s large feet

Walking backward, crawling forward

The tug of eternity

The tension of humanity

The meeting point of now

Still, we eat our greens

Paint the house a cobalt blue

Sweep the floors to make love on it later

There's a familiarity in the wants of the body

The trust that goes unnoticed because its ever present

The mind becomes a busy wizard spinning gold

Transforms horror into epiphany

Makes a story out of struggle

Devises a way in for a way out

Peace after bloodied knuckles

Renaissance follows the Black Death

Togetherness post-apartheid

Dinner during napalm skies

We march on because we're made to