for everyone who can't freely love

There will never be a time when I can love you
That day is brightly bleak
Like the dark ways my love grows
Each minute you step further
I am closer to the truth
I will never see you again.

I don't love you because you are beautiful
I don't love you because you are fair
For if I know why I love you
The moon gently flies to the wolf
then the lonesome howling stops -
to a call for an answer home.

I love you because I do and not because I should
In these lines I confess I am a fool
To give my heart to a smile
But not when Romeo kisses Juliet
I don't play his part -
You are not a romance that hangs on a kite.

I love you because you are you
I can't love you because I am me
If I am you and you are me; I wonder -
Would you love me?
Or is this love just to you
Since I am on the other team.

I don't know where I will be
A million years from now
An atomic-burger digested by cosmic storm
Your being glues to my core
The final dance destroys not
Your kindess and trust, my love.

special olympics

A few years ago at the Seattle Special Olympics, nine contestants, all physically or mentally disabled, assembled at the starting line for the 100 yard dash.

At the gun, they all started out, not exactly in a dash, but with a relish to run the race to the finish and win. All, that is, except one boy who stumbled onthe asphalt, tumbled over a couple of times and began to cry. The other eight heard the boy. They slowed down and looked back. They all turned around and went back. Every one of them.

One girl with Down's Syndrome bent down and kissed himand said, "This will make it better." All nine linked arms and walked across the finish line together.

Everyone in the stadium stood, and the cheering went on for several minutes. People who were there are still telling the story. Why? Because deep down we know one thing.

What matters most in this life is more than winning for ourselves. What truly matters in this life is helping others win, even if it means slowing down and changing our course.

metta

May there be peace, trust and compassion on earth.

I send you love and light.

bravo

Detachment from likes and dislikes, habits and opinions, is not a sign of weakness. It is an enormously strong and positive quality. Nor does freedom from likes and dislikes mean that life is insipid for us, but rather that we are not driven compulsively by rigid ways of thinking. Even if we don't get what we want - or if we do get what we don't want - we can still function cheerfully and efficiently.

Detachment from habits does not mean that we have no habits. Good habits can be very useful to cultivate in life. But we should be able to change our habits gracefully, or drop them altogether when necessary, especially if we learn that they are harmful to us or are not exactly endearing us to those around us. If we are used to a cup of coffee every morning with our breakfast and one morning we discover that we are out of coffee, we don't say, "I can't function without my coffee," and go back to bed. We should be able to say cheerfully, "I'll have tea instead - or soy milk."

E.E.