Lament

This morning cold and grey
Melancholy had come to visit
Grief, her sister, at her side.

We have brought mementos
they whispered:
the young girl whose innocence
had been taken from her,
the mother running to find
a place of safety for her children,
the flight from fear
in the middle of the night.

Grief said softly:
that was then.
Now there are thousands
of children stumbling along dusty
roads into an uncertain future,
cities devastated,
beliefs tearing families,
whole countries apart...

There came a new voice
that spoke to me,
Hope.

If only every one of us,
everyone
did one good deed each day,
the whole world would be
a better place.

I sit at the feet of Buddha
and give myself over.