{"id":2226,"date":"2017-03-03T00:00:50","date_gmt":"2017-03-03T05:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=2226"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:47:13","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:47:13","slug":"friday-march-3-you-must-know-sorrow-as-the-other-deepest-thing-naomi-shihab-nye","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2017\/03\/03\/friday-march-3-you-must-know-sorrow-as-the-other-deepest-thing-naomi-shihab-nye\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday, March 3 – – “you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.” – – Naomi Shihab Nye"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wednesday, March 3, 2017 \u00a0<\/strong>\u201cBefore you know what kindness really is
\nyou must lose things,\u201d<\/p>\n

Four days ago, a\u00a0friend emailed me some lines from Naomi Shihab Nye\u2019s poem \u201cKindness.\u201d \u00a0The poet finds words to connect kinship and love with those elements of living in the world that wear us down. \u00a0Meanness and violence become a context for enduring kindness. \u00a0No wonder my friend thought to send \u201cKindness\u201d in these times; no surprise either that it found a place in \u201cWork Day\/Hard Times\u201d so soon after the poem landed here. Naomi Shihab Nye is becoming a welcomed presence here.<\/p>\n

Best to read the poem out loud, with pauses.<\/p>\n

Friday, a delicate dusting of snow in the parking lot, early, before any of us 22 Jesuits had left footprints. \u00a0 Not the 20\u201d blizzard I\u2019ve been hoping for, but pretty damn beautiful even so.\u00a0 Have a blest weekend.<\/p>\n

john sj<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Today\u2019s Post \u00a0\u201cKindness\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Before you know what kindness really is
\nyou must lose things,
\nfeel the future dissolve in a moment
\nlike salt in a weakened broth.
\nWhat you held in your hand,
\nwhat you counted and carefully saved,
\nall this must go so you know
\nhow desolate the landscape can be
\nbetween the regions of kindness.
\nHow you ride and ride
\nthinking the bus will never stop,
\nthe passengers eating maize and chicken
\nwill stare out the window forever.<\/p>\n

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
\nyou must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
\nlies dead by the side of the road.
\nYou must see how this could be you,
\nhow he too was someone
\nwho journeyed through the night with plans
\nand the simple breath that kept him alive.<\/p>\n

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
\nyou must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
\nYou must wake up with sorrow.
\nYou must speak to it till your voice
\ncatches the thread of all sorrows
\nand you see the size of the cloth.<\/p>\n

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
\nonly kindness that ties your shoes
\nand sends you out into the day to mail letters and purchase bread,
\nonly kindness that raises its head
\nfrom the crowd of the world to say
\nIt is I you have been looking for,
\nand then goes with you everywhere
\nlike a shadow or a friend.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Naomi Shihab Nye
\n(b. March 12, 1952)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wednesday, March 3, 2017 \u00a0\u201cBefore you know what kindness really is you must lose things,\u201d Four days ago, a\u00a0friend emailed me some lines from Naomi Shihab Nye\u2019s poem \u201cKindness.\u201d \u00a0The poet finds words to connect kinship and love with those … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2226"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2226"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2228,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2226\/revisions\/2228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}