Poetry

Loving-Kindness Prayer after Buddhist mettā phrases

may you feel happiness
like a crackling campfire
cradling marshmallows
in its embrace

may you feel happiness
knowing you are enough

may you feel happiness
when your heart bursts open
revealing it was always full

may you feel safe
in the house you built of
pinewood and gratitude

may you feel safe
falling apart and
coming together again

may you feel safe
breathing in crisp winter air
breathing out warmth
and there’s nothing else
nothing at all

may you feel love tenderly
like a wounded, wild animal

may you feel love
that recognizes the importance
of boundaries yet its vastness
knows no boundaries

may you feel love
that’s pure and replenishing
like a spring creek

may all troubled beings
find comfort and strength
in each other
in love that’s inseparable

Maija Haavisto

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