It is easy enough to find the rough,
whether on an old road often traveled
or in casual words that deserved more thought
than was given.

It is easy enough to find the blade
in a choice made that favored someone else
and left us wondering whether or not
we held quite the respect we had believed.

It is easy enough to find the barb
in the shards of time given to others
by those we love
when we have paid the price—many times—
of lessons they have learned.

Such skills are made easy by constant practice
and a tilting toward finding such things.

Harder, perhaps,
and certainly requiring a greater wisdom,
is finding and sharing the grace
that will smooth the rough,
dull the edge,
blunt the point
of all hurts.

Harder, yes,
but skill well worth the finding,
that blinds us more to unintended—
and perhaps, intended—wounds
and more attuned to that divine ointment
that heals even more in its giving
than in its receiving.

H. Arnett
11/6/12