empathy

(x = space)

Empathic

How pleasant

To talk like Gollum

Without the throat-call

But to say eggses

And even Baggins,

We hates it

Forever

It don’t know,

It is a menace

And a villain

But all the buzzing

All the hissing

Like bees and snakes

They fuss

They sting

There is a threat

To suffocate and kill

They are all villains

Without sympathy

And yet they call for sympathy

The sounds

The creature

Of their origin

And all origins

Of s sounds

Of sympathy

And of pain

C L Couch

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien wrote in a room in their house. At his feet, there was an electric heater, the kind with a plastic face that looks like flames. He loved languages (I hope) and with his words created the epic Lord of the Rings.

I [threw a] rock into [the] lake with [the] intent of photographing the ripple effect and with the thought of how when we are kind to others [it] grows out in ripples to others who in turn spread kindness to others.

Photo by John Peters on Unsplash