09/29/2025

A helping hand, surely,

or a lean-to shoulder and words

of I Understand;

a taken hand cupped kindly

to assist over a lazy creek 

on a summer Sunday morning

or any other morning;

food when enough to spare and hands are reaching;

water when it can be offered;

patience for the greater efforts of lesser rewards;

conversation when engaged

and attention to great works of art

like the three-paneled green scene

hanging in Bosch’s corner of the Prado,

that depicts us and our corruptions,

that is beautiful in its ambiguous structures

and descent

but is nauseating if loved too long;

money if the bills are paid;

mercy if it can be provided;

thoughts for the dead if the dead come to us

and missing those who we miss;

courage if a heart can will it;

to give all that can be given without pain,

we ought to.