Loving-Kindness

may I be happy / may I be healthy / may I be safe from harm

Loving-Kindness

Don’t give up so easily
now that your prayers and recitations haven’t 
miraculously changed the whole of your life. 
A single drop of water daily crashing against 
the same surface eventually smoothes the hard 
edges of rock, and in due time, impresses a 
divot, something that can hold the gathering 
rain. Keep practicing, wherever you may be,
no matter the conditions. Keep whispering 
                                your hand to your heart–
may I be happy / may I be healthy / may I be safe 
from harm. 

And then
may you be happy / may you be healthy / may you 
be safe from harm. 

And after that the chorus of the sum of us
may we be happy / may we be healthy / may we be 
safe from harm.

Any prayer will do. For ease and peace. For 
comfort. For joy. For fortitude. Let this be a 
companion song. Soon what was rock becomes 
stone, and what was stone becomes resting spot. 
By then your whole life will have changed. And 
you, having grown accustomed to this steady 
tenderness, will have barely noticed how gently
you’ve walked through your own door, arriving. 

- Moudi Sbeity

Photo by Olga Nayda on Unsplash

Small daily steps help us cover vast distances. This is how we transform overtime. Thank you to ZenJen Brown 💜 for including this poem in the anthology The Intention of Love. You can download a free digital copy of the anthology here. And you can watch our conversation on Youtube below <3