Thursday, August 30, 2007

The Hand of Kindness (Richard Thompson)

More on kindness...


The mower stalled, twice; kneeling, I found
A hedgehog jammed up against the blades,
Killed. It had been in the long grass.
I had seen it before, and even fed it, once.
Now I had mauled its unobtrusive world
Unmendably. Burial was no help:
Next morning I got up and it did not.
The first day after a death, the new absence
Is always the same; we should be careful
Of each other, we should be kind
While there is still time.

QUOTE: "You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

2 comments:

  1. I have not heard that song or read that book so now I have them both on a list to check into. Kindness is something so simple yet we make it seem like it must be impossible when we don't find it convenient

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  2. Hey, Patty -

    Richard Thompson is a guitar genius... who just happens to write amazing lyrics as well - just listen to his Dimming of the Day or Beeswing (more at http://www.richardthompson-music.com/

    What a wonderful observation on your part - "impossible when we don't find it convenient". The Golden Rule was our family rule... and I'd like to think I raised our children to be kind to themselves, each other and the world in which they live - we've always paid the tolls of the people behind us (a random act of kindness) which, when they were little they loved, but found it "cheesier" as the got older, and now understand the idea again. Kindness Matters - I've actually seen the phrase on plaques in catalogs lately... which makes me think the idea might be catching on... :-)

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