you are the river of love’s tenderness (video 4:29)

you are the river of love’s tenderness

Beside every wounded heart flows love’s river of tenderness
it babbles and croons with the power to bring hope to the living,
to the dead, peace eternally wrought

unseen angels perch upon banks made slick with tears
of the misbegotten ~
the way through all but disappears
behind a shroud of cracked and broken reeds

would that the waters rise and fall upon the nameless legions
who arrive breathless and dry
who weep in desolation
reach toward the river with cupped and bleeding hands
only to watch the honeyed elixir slip through their fingerless grasp

below every broken wing awaits the breath of spring
it aches to rustle, to dance,
splashing each upturned face with breezy kisses
and the promise of untrammeled flight

there is no brokenness that is not soothed
in a moment of tenderness

there is no stricken heart that is not lightened
by a gentle touch and earnest gaze

each one that passes before you
was born to sing in exaltation
rise to majestic heights
swoon in a cradle scented by a holy whisper that bears no name

look in your mirror!
you are the river of love’s tenderness,
from your mouth springs the breath

you never know,
you may be holding
the heart of the world in your very hand,
offering sustenance everlasting
in a single crumb of sweet compassion.