pilgrim pulse

As we walk along the road, days end,
we come at last to times when we can stop
and still continue talking with a friend
and even eat a bit, and drink a drop.

It’s at these times when friendship comes alive
at close of day, around a meal, at rest,
When people’s thoughts keep marching past “survive-”
-al”, savour good, and thinking too of best,

and learning too, to listen (not just talk)
and actively to try to feel with them,
and open up your life and not just baulk
at differences that take us past our “ken”.

Past our “Ken”, & “Barbie”, model pair
and to a deeper magic underneath
until we come at last to places where
then we decide to spend of love’s bequeath…

and putting up with others’ weird ways
and then their special other little quirks,
so that it hardly matters what (s)he says
I’m not just thinking “All of them are jerks”.

And yet to call those jerk-ish ways their names,
and handle any flack that is stirred up;
not escalating, playing little games
where all our sensitivities erupt.

But modelling the kind of bigness that
most parents have for kids (who have well grown),
and friends have for their friends who’re thin or fat,
yet open up their inner thoughts. Be known.

Sat 12/11/2016