Lost and Found
We know it
We love it
We want it for ourselves
But how do we find it
when we’re looking?
A storm came in
and washed me out
My next door neighbor
made me cry
The proverbial wolf
clawed me raw
Where was
this peace I had found?
I had to find it again
but I didn’t know how
Hunger buzzed about my face
Ignorance jabbed at my side
Rage nearly knocked down my front door
And I waited
for a kind hand to reach out
At length, a hand clasped mine
It was familiar
It was my own
It calmed the rage
enlightened the ignorance
satisfied the hunger
It tamed the wolf
forgave my neighbor
and reached out to embrace the storm
My hand reached out
We know it
We love it
We want it for ourselves
But how do we find it
when we’re looking?
I just wrote this. It's one of the rare times I've posted a poem with a due date. Ed (my school principal) asked that I read a poem at meeting for worship (I go to a Quaker school) tomorrow morning. I'd previously read aloud the last two lines of Humanitarian at a meeting with just the upper school (we're all hopping a bus to meet with the lower schoolers tomorrow), and he liked it and thought that might be suitable. The theme, however, is peace, and the theme of that poem is more compassion. I told him I thought it didn't work, and when he read it, he agreed, but he said he wanted to use it at a future meeting where it would be more applicable because he really liked it. So I told him I would endeavor to write one by tomorrow, but he should be prepared to have something else for me to read if I couldn't. Fortunately, I succeeded. I normally make it a rule not to post something immediately after I write it. I may think the better of it later and be embarrassed. But I figured this one was safe.
We love it
We want it for ourselves
But how do we find it
when we’re looking?
A storm came in
and washed me out
My next door neighbor
made me cry
The proverbial wolf
clawed me raw
Where was
this peace I had found?
I had to find it again
but I didn’t know how
Hunger buzzed about my face
Ignorance jabbed at my side
Rage nearly knocked down my front door
And I waited
for a kind hand to reach out
At length, a hand clasped mine
It was familiar
It was my own
It calmed the rage
enlightened the ignorance
satisfied the hunger
It tamed the wolf
forgave my neighbor
and reached out to embrace the storm
My hand reached out
We know it
We love it
We want it for ourselves
But how do we find it
when we’re looking?
I just wrote this. It's one of the rare times I've posted a poem with a due date. Ed (my school principal) asked that I read a poem at meeting for worship (I go to a Quaker school) tomorrow morning. I'd previously read aloud the last two lines of Humanitarian at a meeting with just the upper school (we're all hopping a bus to meet with the lower schoolers tomorrow), and he liked it and thought that might be suitable. The theme, however, is peace, and the theme of that poem is more compassion. I told him I thought it didn't work, and when he read it, he agreed, but he said he wanted to use it at a future meeting where it would be more applicable because he really liked it. So I told him I would endeavor to write one by tomorrow, but he should be prepared to have something else for me to read if I couldn't. Fortunately, I succeeded. I normally make it a rule not to post something immediately after I write it. I may think the better of it later and be embarrassed. But I figured this one was safe.