<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Thank you Toni. Just what I needed. xo, L<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""><div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Sep 24, 2025, at 10:13 AM, Toni Bernbaum via Thespiritexpress <<a href="mailto:thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org" class="">thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" class=""><div style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br id="lineBreakAtBeginningOfMessage" class=""><div class=""><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><br class=""><div class=""><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" class=""><div style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><font style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);" size="5" class="">Belief</font><div dir="ltr" class=""></div><div class=""><font style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);" size="5" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class=""><font style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);" size="5" class="">So I can’t save the world— <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">can’t save even myself,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">can’t wrap my arms around<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">every frightened child, can’t<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">foster peace among nations,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">can’t bring love to all who<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">feel unlovable.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">So I practice opening my heart<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">right here in this room and being gentle<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">with my insufficiency. I practice<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">walking down the street heart first.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">And if it is insufficient to share love,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">I will practice loving anyway.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">I want to converse about truth,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">about trust. I want to invite compassion<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">into every interaction.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">One willing heart can’t stop a war.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">One willing heart can’t feed all the hungry.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">And sometimes, daunted by a task too big,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">I tell myself what’s the use of trying?<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">But today, the invitation is clear:<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">to be ridiculously courageous in love.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">To open the heart like a lilac in May,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">knowing freeze is possible<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">and opening anyway.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">To take love seriously.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">To give love wildly.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">To race up to the world<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">as if I were a puppy,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">adoring and unjaded,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">stumbling on my own exuberance.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">To feel the shock of indifference,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">of anger, of cruelty, of fear,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">and stay open. To love as if it matters,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">as if the world depends on it</font></div><div class=""><font style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);" size="5" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class=""><font size="5" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer</font></div></div></div>_______________________________________________<br class="">PoetryLovers mailing list<br class=""><a href="mailto:PoetryLovers@lists.sonic.net" class="">PoetryLovers@lists.sonic.net</a><br class="">https://lists.sonic.net/mailman/listinfo/poetrylovers<br class=""></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></div>_______________________________________________<br class="">Thespiritexpress mailing list<br class=""><a href="mailto:Thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org" class="">Thespiritexpress@lists.mcn.org</a><br class="">https://lists.mcn.org/mailman/listinfo/thespiritexpress<br class=""></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></div></body></html>