Turned Off

The news was horrific
Every day
All over the world
Clumsy in my kitchen, I spilled my fresh cup of coffee.

People were dying horribly
Every day
All over the globe.
Not paying attention to my life, I broke a favourite piece of pottery.

I turned off the sounds of worry and fear,
stopped watching acute grieving and anguished crying.
Each morning while reading a book, calmness settled.
I took a deep breath and relaxed in safety.

Other world problems, full of angst,
plague my mind and my heart with feelings of powerlessness.
Visions of the broken, bleeding and dying, hungry and lost
too much for a tender heart with limits to help and to heal.

“One ought to hold on to one’s heart; for if one lets it go, 

one soon loses control of the head too.”

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Author's Note: Edited January 13, 2024