Yusef Komunyakaa’s poem “Kindness” opens with the following lines:
…..When deeds splay before us
precious as gold & unused chances
stripped from the whine bone,
we know the moment kindheartedness
walks in.
The five lines evoke a world, one in which there is an “us,” a “we.” This we—perhaps two people, perhaps a large number of people—examines deeds and unused chances, almost appearing as riches displayed on velvet cloth or constellations on a clear, blue-black night. In this examination, something reveals itself: “the moment kindheartedness / walks in.”
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