I studied bees, who were able
to convey messages through dancing
and could find their ways
home to their hives
My husband is a farmer, so we often wake up before first light, and I go off on my own with a big cup of coffee to scribble in my notebook for a few hours.
So much coexists in the heart’s container,
as in a carved teak bowl on the table.
He’s painting a bird with wings
wide enough to cover two roofs at once.
Each morning
I wake
in the shape
of an ancient
song
how right he was about slowness,
the path of sunlight through leaves,
how dirt has always befriended me,
For God knows it is good to give;
We may not have so long to live,
So if we can,
Let’s do each day a kindly deed,
And stretch a hand to those in need,
Bird, beast or man.
Homeless fig, this tragedy with a terrible root
is too big for us. What flag can we wave?
I wave the flag of stone and seed,
table mat stitched in blue.
In this short animated video, Naomi Shihab Nye reads her famous poem “Kindness.”
Naomi Shihab Nye, the current Young People’s Poet Laureate, and poet Michael Simms gather international poets to share works that navigate themes of identity, displacement, and home in Gaza.
As we enter our new lives
will we remember
the faster we moved
the sicker we got?
It was the summer the Israelis withdrew, leaving
behind
a landmined no-man’s-land of phosphorus orange groves,
blighted with white like the kingdom of the Snow Queen.
“If you want to change the world, make your life about others. And everything will come back to you.” — Dr. Rouba Mhaissen
Take a brief journey through the eyes of American Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges to Jerusalem, Gaza, and Iraq, and discover the sacred bonds that make us human.