Mercy
a poem from Shambhavi Sarasavati at Kindred 108. We're all kindred here.
Mercy
My home has not been stolen My home has not been bombed I don't sleep in a tattered tent I'm not thirsting while the whole world drinks I'm not starving while governments profit on death My children are not covered in boils, sick and wasting Armies have not ripped them from their schools and friends or thrown them in prisons to be tortured and raped I am not grieving the murder of my beloveds No one I know lies rotting under the bombed rubble of their lives I don't walk down bloodied streets piled with mangled bodies of the dead My libraries, hospitals, galleries, and schools are not in ruins My lands and crops, my trees and even my seeds have not been crushed by colonizer insanities The constant whine of drones does not disrupt my sleep and I do not cling to my companions, wiping their tears as bombs fall in the middle of the night But by some ordinary miracle of life and death and the shuffling of rebirth I have experienced all of this and this indelible experiencing is a remembering woken from every cell in my body and the heart And I can't find the words but we are together our cries for mercy searching for ears circling round and round this world with infinite love, Shambhavi
Getting food and supplies to Palestinians in Gaza is of the most urgent concern. I encourage you to donate to these grassroots, Palestinian-led groups that, at great danger to their volunteers, continue to deliver food, water, tents, and loving words to the people of Gaza.
The Sameer Project
Ele Elna Elak
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Please join Shambhavi and the Jaya Kula community for satsang & kirtan every Sunday at 3:00pm Pacific. Come in person to 1215 SE 8th Ave, Portland, OR, or join Jaya Kula’s newsletter to get the Zoom link for satsang. You can also listen to my podcast—Satsang with Shambhavi—wherever podcasts are found.