This love I speak
The beauty and compassion
All this tenderness
Does not mean my life
Is perfect
And problem free
It doesn’t mean life
Is easy or effortless
Oh no
Life is life
Always there are things
Difficulties, issues
Challenges and unexpected troubles
The world of form is troublesome
By its very nature

It takes a certain courage
And daring
To always turn towards tenderness
To consciously choose love and beauty

But I have seen the face of darkness
I seen where hatred leads
And the prison of righteousness
I know my responsibility
To not add one more drop of suffering
To a world of suffering
To not add one more bolt of thunderous fury
To a world of hatred and fear
I will not do it

I will turn, again and again,
To beauty, to love, to compassion
For without those we are nothing
Without those the human experiment
Has failed

The real warriors are those
Who keep beauty alive.