Permission to Feel

The notes of empathy are quiet and unsettling.

Empathy is an undressing of sorts, an excavation

of soul; a contemplative opening if you will.

Each of us, all 7 billion, are pieces of sea glass

shaped by the waves of tragedy, delight, and

the gritty sand of ignorance.

Give yourself permission to feel with others

Stretch your ears and learn from the sharp

and flat notes that surface. And wait, wait

in silence, wait for the song.

~Dale Fredrickson