Compassion...

I enjoyed my first foray into spoken word with my "Culpable Disturbance of Shalom" piece that I thought I'd try again.

​Compassion was a theme for an assembly, and this time I had the image, and the words came, and then the music followed suit...

Compassion:

Compassion says I see you,
I hear you,
I feel you,
I want to know you.
It knows we’re not that different
You and me.

Compassion sees an empty seat:
At a table over lunch,
And it’s been empty for a while.
There’s nothing wrong with the seat,
Apart from the fact that
It’s next to THAT person.
You know the one who always sits on their own,
Alone, but why?
Do you know?
Is it something to do with them,
Or is it more to do with you?
What do you see?
How do you feel?
How will you respond?

Compassion makes an empty seat:
On a bus, or a train, or a tram.
But it wasn’t always empty.
In fact, it was yours.
But you saw them,
Struggling,
And made a space for them to rest.
That older person with their shopping bags;
That single parent wrestling with a child;
That person struggling to walk, to stand, to breathe;
That key worker who’d been on their feet for hours;
And compassion made that empty seat…
Because you noticed they needed it more than you:
You saw.
You felt.
You responded.

Compassion sees an empty seat:
Among your group of friends,
It’s not always empty.
Your friend normally sits there,
Smiling, laughing,
Bringing the banter,
And yet they’re absent.
Have you noticed?
Do you care?
Did you know that
They’ve been struggling recently,
Things aren’t good at home,
They’re struggling with school,
Money’s tight,
They’re anxious,
Stressed,
Depressed,
And so it was easier for them to drift away.
Are you comfortable with that empty seat?
Or do you love your friend enough
To want them back to fill it,
To seek them out,
To sit with them,
To see, and feel, and respond?

Compassion leaves an empty seat
At a table full of food,
Amongst friends, family
Strangers, the “enemy”.
A place of safety,
A place of plenty,
A place of growth.
It says “There’s always room for one more”
It asks no questions,
Expects no rewards,
Just offers a welcome.
There are so many people,
Because that’s what they are,
People,
Not strangers, or refugees,
Not immigrants, or homeless,
Not “them”, just “people”
Just like you and I,
Who need a place to sit,
And eat,
And be welcome.

Compassion fills an empty seat
Beside a hospital bed,
Not because you’re a doctor or nurse
Or even know the words to say,
But because what’s needed
Is a presence,
Company,
In the silence, the solitude,
The pain, the grief,
The moments of despair,
Of loneliness and lostness:
Just someone who cares.

Maybe you’ve seen these seats,
Made these seats,
Left these seats,
Filled these seats,
Because deep down you’ve known
And shown
Compassion.
Or maybe you haven’t…
Because it’s not easy to be the one
To sit, to stand, to welcome.
But you and I need to have the courage
To feel, to care, to share ourselves,
Compassionately.
Or maybe, like me,
You’ve known those seats:
Because it was next to you, as you ate alone…
Because you’ve looked for it on the tram…
Because you walked away from friends…
Because you needed a welcome…
Because you’ve known pain…
And you were looking for
Compassion.

Because compassion says I see you,
I hear you,
I feel you,
I want to know you.
It knows we’re not that different
You and me.

Isn’t that what we all need?