Fear and gratefulness at the same time? Yeah. I explore that in this poem, “Amen,” published at Grateful.org. While you’re there, check out their other poems—reading their poems is like the hug I sometimes need after reading the news. It doesn’t make the bad news go away, but it reminds me there is good in the world, too.
When I forget that the whole world
is holy, even the tiny dark bugs
that slip through window screens
and flock and stick to kitchen lights,
even the charred black remains of forest,
even the river as it floods bright red,
even when my cheeks are tear-stained
and my body tightens with fear,
that is when a kind letter from a stranger
arrives in the mail, or the rabbit will stand
on his back legs to nibble on mint,
or the meadow will blaze with the day’s
last slant of sunlight and my heart opens
so wide that inside the fear rises praise.
Photo by Ann Tsvetkova