An Undervalued Courage

It takes a daring woman to see the strength
of remaining soft in a hard world.
To love like you've never been hurt,
when your heart has been broken many times.
I think the greatest act of bravery is to recognize that
loving someone makes you vulnerable,
but refusing to stop.
To be courageous enough
to look that vulnerability in the face and say
"I will not back down,
no matter how many times you try to stop me
I will love boldly."
is a power few people possess.

Three Wishes

If I had three wishes, I'd wish the whole world blind.
That poverty and hunger befall all of humankind.
That every creature lose the thing their heart adores the most.
That every strength and skill be taken so no mouth can try to boast.
I'd bid each individual be lost - a lonely, yearning soul.
That every body be taken ill, let diseases take their toll.
Let fires burn and floods abound - loose nature on us all.
Drop every mortal to their knees; let every human fall.
And when we all have had enough, when each heart can understand
I'd wish it all away again, reach out and touch a hand.
For once you've lost your sight, what does color even mean?
And once you feel the pain of hunger, once your body's been unclean,
once you've begged and gotten nothing, eaten garbage you could find -
is it really very difficult to give time, money, be KIND?
When your heart's been intimate with deepest grief and sorrow
It's easy sharing hope with one another for tomorrow
Once we truly understood, another person's pain
Our response could be so different, we could finally break hate's chain.
In place of rage or judgement, instead of greed or apathy
I'd wish us all a loving heart, compassion, grace, and empathy.

-jainedoe