Just One Word

do not forget

Do not forget when you were down and out, and just one word changed everything.

Can you remember not just word, but also tone of voice,

speaking to your heart when you believed your heart was empty, barely able to beat?

Family, friend, stranger? Not stranger once the word is spoken, no such thing as stranger.

Cold cloud of illusory separation we drift in, never imagining what we are about to hear,

word echoing in chambers of the heart, like an embrace by a long-lost friend.

So many of us, forlorn souls waiting for a special word that only you can say.

Do not forget when you were down and out, and just one word changed everything.

~ Wry Welwood 19th of July 2022

Inspired by Suma Narayan’s life-affirming poem Kindly Light, Lead on Coffee Times.

Originally published at https://shadowinlight.substack.com on July 21, 2022.