Where do we turn when there is violence all around us?  Where do we run to feel safe when there are those who relish shattering the safety of our schools, the sanctuary of our places of worship, and the normalcy of our marketplaces?

Run to family and friends and console one another with compassionate words and deeds.  What if you feel you have no family nor friend close by?   Please accept those with outstretched arms who come to you in difficult times.  But also be a person who reaches out to others in their times of need or distress.

I know that neither words meant to comfort nor deeds of charity can erase the wounds of extreme violence, but they can uplift us and give us hope.  My poem WORDS OF A FRIEND encourages us to find support from a friend but also to be a friend.

WORDS OF A FRIEND

A gentle breeze is blowing
Across the tears within our hearts.
It reaches down where hurt is found,
Searching out each wounded part.
And with calmness and assurance,
Its journey moves on without end
As it spreads sweet words of promise
Spoken gently by a friend.

Our thoughts become a message
Shaped by the words we choose to say.
Must they be used as piercing swords
Bringing anger, hurt, and pain?
How much better if we’d answer,
Molding each word before we speak,
So our gentle strength brings comfort,
Which grieved hearts will then repeat.

A Poem of Consolation and Hope
Connie Carlisle Polley, 2018
conniecarlislepolley.com