Kindness

From the porch I see
ferns and wildflowers
and lush oak saplings
emerge
through last year’s
leaf litter.

A phoebe flitters
back and forth
to its nest above the door,
full of desperate hatchlings.

None of this
has anything to do with me,
the observer.
Yet it feels like a kindness,
a whisper of inspiration
to emerge from the small deaths
and into the rebirths
that are my own life.

What if I were to redefine kindness
in this way-
natural, spontaneous,
borne of connection
rather than ego?

What if living
within this flow is,
by its nature,
an act of love?

By Maria Brady-Smith
Photo by Mike Smith