Show up for yourself where you can:
shower,
take out the trash,
go to bed at an hour tomorrow-you will thank you for.

Create:
lists of what makes you smile, then live a life of scavenger-hunting gratitude;
art you don’t offer on the altar of the market, for which you have little aptitude;
reasons for others to stay.

Play:
peekaboo with fussy children in public spaces,
cards, even when you have no aces;
pretend that there’s nothing left to forgive.

Give:
your change to each person who begs,
your aisle seat to someone with longer legs,
your heart, knowing it might well break.

Take:
time to learn the difference between life and death,
the long way home and a few deep breaths,
responsibility for what you’ve done wrong.

Keep:
dancing to the song only you can hear,
crying when moments are deserving of tears and,
listening to the voice that calls you to inconvenient action —
that’s how the divine gains traction in our land.
Be the hands and the feet you’ve needed.