Carry in Your Heart

photo by hapth, Pixabay

While you rise from sleep,
carry in your heart
someone who will not wake today.
While you drink your coffee,
carry in your heart
someone thirsty unto death.
While you do your ablutions,
carry in your heart
someone with nowhere to wash.

While you meditate,
carry in your heart
someone who has no hope.
While you prepare your breakfast
carry in your heart
a mother risking snipers to get to food.
While you write your poems,
carry in your heart
someone jammed with feelings.

While you dress to go out,
carry in your heart
someone without a coat in bitter cold.
While you say hello to your neighbor,
carry in your heart
someone friendless and afraid.
While you walk in your town,
carry in your heart
a boy become a soldier with no legs.

Days we can’t remember
to carry in our heart
any other someones,
we  live in a world
shrunken to such tight perimeters.
Without the natural compassion
of peripheral imagination,
we become so small,
and all alone.

©Susa Silvermarie 2025