Jelisava

My mother with her brother and sister at the Philadelphia Zoo: Frances, Marion, Elizabeth / 1946

   Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and
     purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
it is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you every where
like a shadow or a friend.

~ an excerpt from "Kindness" by Naomi Shihab Nye