Cup of Kindness

When deep winter comes
and the snow chases our attention
across the fields to the stone walls
and the hem of trees,

the mind will wander to early spring
and to the sheep that stood
steaming in the heat of the stable,

their small bodies waiting for the shearing;
a sacrifice that is is always lost in their bleating.

Follow the white flakes
caught in the wind
to where memories
of  brothers laughing together,
tossed handfuls of cold at one another,
and knew what it was to silently love

and here you will find your ancestors
smiling at the door of your soul
asking to enter for a cup
of kindness.