KINDNESS

KINDNESS
by Naomi Shihab Nye

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes any sense anymore,

only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and
purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.

Excerpted from Ten Poems to Open Your Heart by Roger Housden. "Kindness" from Words Under the Words: Selected Poems by Naomi Shihab Nye.

Jack Johnson is brilliant.

I am a deep fan of Jack Johnson. I found him first in a quirky way. As most of you know, I love the song Plastic Jesus and so I was doing an iTunes search of the covers they have of it. At iTunes, there is a video of Jack singing a medley in concert that includes Plastic Jesus. If you don't mind the loss of $1.99, go download it.

It is wonderful and the man is also very easy on the eyes. I now have about 4 of his compilations and there is a real variety there. I love how his music has a light sound for the most part - but when you really read the lyrics, there is a much deeper meaning than you might think. Take this upbeat little tune:

"Fall Line"

And by the way
You know that hope will make you strange
Make you blink, make you blink
Make you sink
It will make you afraid of change
Enough to blame the box with the view of the world
And the walls that fill the frame
I turn it up
But then I turn it off
Because I can't stand
When they start to talk about
The hurting and killing
Whose shoes are we filling
The damage and ruin
And the things that we're doing
Gotta
We gotta stop
We gotta turn it all off
We gotta rewind
Start it up again
Because we fell across the fall line
Ain't there nothing sacred anymore
Nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah
Somebody saw him jump
Yeah, but nobody saw him slip
I guess he lost a lot a hope
And then he lost a grip
And now he's lying in the freeway
In the middle of this mess
Guess we lost another one, just like the other one
Optimistic, hypocrite that didn't have the nerve to quit
The things that kept him wanted more
'Til he finally reached the core
He feel across the fall line
Ain't there nothing sacred anymore
Nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah

Lets see if this Rhapsody link works: Fall Line by Jack Johnson