-- The Greatest Kindness --

John Herlihy

The greatest kindness ever known,

Always deep within the heart sewn.

While every kindness makes a mark,

The greatest kindness can feel stark.

Is generosity the greatest kindness,

The open giving of one’s self away?

Or is it perhaps a form of blindness,

Giving what the poor must also pay.

Is it kindness not to tell another a lie,

When the harsh truth makes us die?

Perhaps a white lie can save the day,

When spoken in some comforting way.

Is it kindness to hide truth from others,

Under a pretext we hold all as brothers?

We lead down a path but what do we see,

The misguided intentions that lie within me.

Is it great kindness to pretend others to love,

While our hearts as dark as the black swan?

We extent our smile with the peace of a dove,

While innerly we send signals others to warn.

Is it great kindness to let others have their say,

To keep silent when you should have your way?

An unspoken virtue lies in one’s secret to keep,

To remain shy at the boldness of others to meet.

Is it kindness to do to others what they do to you,

Even though their actions go against all you knew.

May we do unto others as we hope them to behave,

Just as shore lies patiently for the incoming wave.

I, for one, think the greatest kindness acceptance,

A kindness to ourselves in the spirit of tolerance.

To accept our fate, what we must do, who we are,

A clear signature of hope in our lifetime memoir.

Is not kindness itself then the greatest of all balms,

Every act of kindness echoes the greatest psalms?

Extend me a kindness and I will know who you are,

As night sky offers starlight from every single star.

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(c) John Herlihy 9 August 2019