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Monday, July 1, 2013

Miller Williams: "Compassion"


 











Have compassion for everyone you meet,
even if they don’t want it. What seems conceit, 
bad manners, or cynicism is always a sign 
of things no ears have heard, no eyes have seen.
You do not know what wars are going on
down there where the spirit meets the bone.




"Compassion" by Miller Williams, from The Ways We Touch: Poems. © University of Illinois Press, 1997.  

Image credit: "Compassion," painting by Mary Southard (originally color).



 
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3 comments :

  1. AnonymousSunday, July 05, 2015

    Beautiful thoughts

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownSaturday, July 18, 2020

    Truth!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Barb ChamberlainFriday, July 01, 2022

    This feels like a wonderfully crafted version of the saying "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle" (variously attributed, according to https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/06/29/be-kind/). "Down there where the spirit meets the bone" lands with such power and grace.

    ReplyDelete

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