And…it’s raining

…in so many ways.

In this world, at this time, in SO many ways…

rain.

Never only on sidewalks either.

Photo by Sonika Agarwal on Unsplash

A Sunday Short.

It is cold
it is wet
and it is raining
and the sidewalk I walk upon is puddled.

As I travel this path,
worms are found here and about
stranded upon the walk
as they attempt
their escape
from the suffering
found in their flooded burrows, holes, and tunnels

only to discover a new kind of suffering
on this hard, unexpected and confusing path.

Because I am becoming intimate
with my own brand of suffering
I cannot walk past these beings
leaving them to manage their own plight
by themselves. When I do
because I have to or don’t have time
or whatever lame reason
my heart breaks open just a bit farther

and they stay with me awhile.

I am sorry.

Now, when I can,
I stop
and look
and offer support
lifting them gently

(sometimes they struggle against this)

to the nearest flower bed
or patch of grass
or bit of soil
that can become a possible new home
or at least give respite from all the wet
on the impenetrable cement.

If alive I offer
“May you be safe, healthy, and strong
and may you be free from suffering.”

If dead I offer
“May other beings benefit
from the sacrifice of your body.”

And

“Thank you.”

In the grand design and full catastrophe of
all of life
maybe this effort is not very
significant.

But I have to know and believe
it is significant at least for this little one,
this fellow being not so different from myself,
and in doing so
know that it is significant for me.

THIS is why we need each other.

Always and Ubuntu,

~ k

🙏🏼

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