Is it weak to show mercy?
To offer forgiveness?

To make smooth the seams of empty promises,
reality moves out of learning to ask—
relinquishing that trembling of mind,
relinquishing fear of the present moment.

Forgiveness is one way to practice mercy.

Reality moves along outside my door.
I was on to a Buddha image and bowing,
when I remembered.
If you see the Buddha in the street, kill him.

Acknowledge oneness.
Abandon delusion through beginning to yield.

Holding on feels brittle, narrow, and confined
like a tight fist, clinging to resentment,
clinging to separation.

There’s a tenderness, a trembling in forgiveness,
a giving that cuts through change,
creating space.
It’s a celebration.
In a single act of opening one’s heart,
brightness grows.

Brenda Warren 2016

Notes: Elizabeth offered a prompt to write about mercy this morning. Lion’s Roar offers several articles by Buddhist teachers online, so I steeped myself in Buddhism to feed my muse before embarking on this write about mercy.