respond with kindness
untitled poems from an old notebook
Up at first light to sit in silence
does the universe fill me
or is that me filling the universe
5.8.2026
At night the dogs and cats
leave their graves and play
like small and happy children
whose lives have not yet
been touched by sorrow
then at dawn our old friends
slip back into their graves
and deeply sleep in peace
Cross the Yuba River
stones on the far bank
stacked and balanced
by passing hikers
beauty in the water
and beside it
every day that we live
is a gift and a blessing
every single day
each and every breath
The world opens to you
and gives all of its beauty
and you repay the world
with your own death
giving your body back
to the world to feed
the earth itself
in this way every thought
every breath is beautiful
and so even death
becomes beautiful too
That I might let go
of my many judgements
how easily they come
that I might learn
to respond with kindness
and forgiveness
to people
to life
and to myself
Poems by James Lee Jobe
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