I have loved this poem for a long time.

For the Sake of Strangers
by Dorianne Laux

No matter what the grief, its weight,
we are obliged to carry it.
We rise and gather momentum,the dull strength
that pushes us through crowds.
And then the young boy gives me directions
so avidly. A woman holds the glass door open,
waits patiently for my empty body to pass through.
All day it continues,each kindness
reaching toward another---a stranger
singing to no one as I pass on the path,trees
offering their blossoms, a retarded child
who lifts his almond eyes and smiles.
Somehow they always find me, seem even
to be waiting, determined to keep me
from myself,from the thing that calls to me
as it must have once called to them---
this temptation to step off the edge
and fall weightless,away from the world.


"STEP OFF THE EDGE AND FALL WEIGHTLESS"....Oh I think I have honestly felt this way a few times in my life.....not to the extreme that some would feel...
but a wishing away from pain and lonliness and grief..oh yeah...
But I have always heard that still small voice......
"and no matter what the grief,its weight.." I found a way to carry it
and found happiness and joy just around the corner...
but I know some who could not
So I try to live this poem
and be the young boy
-a woman
-a stranger
-a retarded child
-someone that always finds
-someone always waiting

It is a reminder that everything we do is important
and matters