Given the choice
between love and not love,

between the harsh voice
and the gentle one,

it is prudent, you remind
yourself, to pause when

this one or that one is
annoyingly annoying,

and you want, more than
anything, to snap off their

head and chomp on it like
a female praying mantis

is wont to do after mating
with a hapless swain.

But then, you draw breath
and remind yourself that,

like you, all beings simply
want to be happy, that

all beings search for the
compassionate-hearted,

and, like you, cherish bits
of lovingkindness when it

appears—even from those
you barely know—from

the server who brings bright
lemon slices on a white plate

on a hesitantly sunny winter
afternoon for your water glass

because he remembers that
you like them. And you resolve

to choose love, to unearth some
submerged kindness from

your momentarily hardened
heart space, and offer it to one

before you now, because, truly—
could you bear to live without it,

even just a little?