<div dir="auto">Thanks so very much. This poem came at the perfect time.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">“Macho Robbie” wasn’t much into poetry. </div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">“New, improved Robbie” is working on feeling actual feelings!</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Much love to all.</div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sat, Nov 4, 2023 at 9:23 AM Riantee Rand via Thespiritexpress <<a href="mailto:thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org">thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204)"><div style="line-break:after-white-space">Thank you Toni.<div>I always like to have important poems in print so I can read them again and again.</div></div><div style="line-break:after-white-space"><div><br><div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div>On Nov 3, 2023, at 20:07, Toni Bernbaum via Thespiritexpress <<a href="mailto:thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org" target="_blank">thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org</a>> wrote:</div><br><div><div style="line-break:after-white-space">
<div style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times">Thank you Carlie for asking for this poem read last Tuesday and reminding me to send it out</span></div><div style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times">as I had promised. Its a beauty!</span></div><div style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times"><br></span></div><div style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times"><br></span></div><div style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times">AN OPEN POEM
TO A WORLD-WEARY EMPATH <i style="font-family:Times">~ john roedel</i><u style="font-family:Times"></u><u style="font-family:Times"></u></span></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times"> </span><span style="font-family:Times;font-size:14pt">you can’t
leave Earth yet</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Times;font-size:14pt">~ because I
just flipped ahead about a hundred pages in your story and I read that someday
you will be the reason someone else doesn’t give up on their life</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times"> </span><span style="font-family:Times;font-size:14pt">I’m sorry to
spoil the end of your epic tale</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times"> </span><span style="font-family:Times;font-size:14pt">~ but someday
you will be the one who ignites</span></p><div style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times">the blaze in
another person’s heart that <u style="font-family:Times"></u><u style="font-family:Times"></u></span></div><div style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times">won’t ever be
put out again <u style="font-family:Times"></u><u style="font-family:Times"></u></span></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times"> </span><span style="font-family:Times;font-size:14pt">don’t
complicate the plot of your story</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times"> </span><span style="font-family:Times;font-size:14pt">~ you are here
to be a lamplighter that hands out</span></p><div style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times">little bits of
your flame to ensure the rest <u style="font-family:Times"></u><u style="font-family:Times"></u></span></div><div style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times">of the world
doesn’t exist in darkness <u style="font-family:Times"></u><u style="font-family:Times"></u></span></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times"> </span><span style="font-family:Times;font-size:14pt">I know you
have been scorched so many times</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times"> </span><span style="font-family:Times;font-size:14pt">~ to love the
world is to sometimes be burned at the</span></p><div style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times">the stake by
others who mistake your gift<u style="font-family:Times"></u><u style="font-family:Times"></u></span></div><div style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times">of compassion
as a personal weakness <u style="font-family:Times"></u><u style="font-family:Times"></u></span></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times"> </span><span style="font-family:Times;font-size:14pt">I know it’s
not easy to be a bringer of light</span></p><div style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times">to those who
have become addicted to shadows <u style="font-family:Times"></u><u style="font-family:Times"></u></span></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times"> </span><span style="font-family:Times;font-size:14pt">~ but we need
you to be a gardener of effervescent seeds</span></p><div style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times">that you will
perhaps never see grow into burning rosebushes<u style="font-family:Times"></u><u style="font-family:Times"></u></span></div><div style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times">that can be
seen from space <u style="font-family:Times"></u><u style="font-family:Times"></u></span></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times"> </span><span style="font-family:Times;font-size:14pt">Oh, my love,
don’t give into the calling despair</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times"> </span><span style="font-family:Times;font-size:14pt">~ set your
life on fire with kindness and watch how many</span></p><div style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times">other people
come out of their caves to sit by your <u style="font-family:Times"></u><u style="font-family:Times"></u></span></div><div style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times">campfire heart
to share their own stories of survival<u style="font-family:Times"></u><u style="font-family:Times"></u></span></div><div style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times">Oh my love,
you are my favorite element<u style="font-family:Times"></u><u style="font-family:Times"></u></span></div><div><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times"> </span><br></div><div><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Times"> </span><br></div><div><span style="font-size:14pt"> </span><br></div>
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