I lost myself in the moment and found myself for a lifetime

Imprint
-LBelans

Gratitude for undaunted guardians of
Democracy, justice, and kindness.

For fierce dismantlers of racism.

For women forming friendships
across continents through ideas, through grief,
and through aspirations.
For speaking truth to power.

For educators wrestling the muscular tentacles
of poverty to level the crooked room of education.

For Moremian justice-seekers.

For the peacemakers who deflect slings and arrows.

For investigative journalists who stand
as witness to and interpreters of injustice.
For those who risk their lives.

For the shining stalwarts who aim plastic-straw activism
at unholy behemoths.

Gratitude for artists and dancers who sometimes
challenge the world, sometimes make it more beautiful
– sometimes simultaneously.

For writers and poets who offer the mind-altering power of words.

Gratitude for friends who seek our help
to ameliorate another's suffering, or their own.

For people who make us laugh out loud.

Gratitude for those who intentionally
raise kind, gentle children to greet each new moment
with curiosity and fierce abandon.

For children – our natural philosophers, scientists, peacemakers, artists,
and truth tellers.

Gratitude.