stunned (poem)

Every day brings news of destruction
Despair
The million ways the human race
Is trying to die
Fighting the tide
of nihilistic disregard
Learning to stand in the way
No matter the cost

Every pose of cynicism wears thin
Rubbing the skin of my soul raw
I want to not care
I want to be immune
The only time failure is a point of pride
Observation demoralizes in extremis
Take a break from the
Bleeding leading news
Just to catch my breath

I'm lost
Sometimes
A wasteland
Devoid of compassion
Too arid to cross
Is all I see

Then...
Oh, but then there are hearts that shelter
The outcast orphans
Safety on the fringes
Where remembering
How to feel
Rising
Is
Safe

I'm stunned at least 7 times a day
Half a dozen times
In ways
I'd like to forget
The casual cruelty
Faceless and
Whipping me raw

Everything
Matters
Even when you think it doesn't

It matters
If even once
Just once
Please
I'm stunned
by
The generous spirit
Who can ill-afford
Risking kindness
On a stranger
Who does it anyway

I'm stunned
In the best of all possible ways

Wishing only
That
It wasn't
Stunning
At
All