To be an empath
in tune
is to know the joy
of extension,
the trepidation that
comes with feeling

every step as it falls,
the agony of receiving—
receiving—
receiving—
receiving—

every whisper . . .
in Technicolor.

To love, I find, is to extend
on purpose,
searching and feeling
and acting in response
for no reason

without expecting
any reward other than
Witness.

This can be exploited, sure,
but it is always a worthy
undertaking: to return
some care to the
universe of
hurts.

This is building a tapestry:
to act with love and not know why.

Whence this effort?

These are mere threads,
we think, feeling
the hurts
of rejection,
misapprehension,
life’s sufferings,
great and tiny.

But these are the wee
building blocks of
something beautiful:
a healing place gestating in time—
out of the roughs, something divine.

` rlw

Photo of an Empath’s Toolkit by Dinh Pham on Unsplash
Photo of some loving scribblings by the Honey Bear