Monday, May 4, 2026: A Poem called "Please" 



by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

If you are one who has practice

meeting the pain of the world,

we need you. Right now we need you

to teach us it is possible to swallow

what is weighty and still be able to rise.

We need you to remind us we can

be furious and scared and near feral

over injustice and still thrill at the taste

of a strawberry, ripe and sweet,

can still meet a stranger and shake

their hand, believing in their humanness.



We need you to show us how

we, too, can fall into the darkest,

unplumbed pit and learn there

a courage and beauty

we could never learn from the light.



If you have drowned in sorrow

and still have somehow found

a way to breathe, please, lead us.

You are the one with the crumbs

we need, the ones we will use to find

our way back to the home of our hearts.

Please



I am adding Please to my collection of inspirations to stay sane and mentally healthy and able to find truth and beauty in the world these days. If you are reading this, I would be surprised if you have not had practice of meeting the pain of the world – truly, who has not? 

But to be told you are needed, to teach us it is possible to swallow / what is weighty and still be able to rise, that our pain can show us other possibilities, that we can / be furious and scared and near feral / over injustice and still taste ripe berries with pleasure, still believe in the humanness of a stranger, this is a wonder, an invitation.

The poet Rosemerry is so clear and commanding that we are each needed in our pain to show others the way we can learn there / a courage and beauty / we could never learn from the light. Lead us, she implores. If you have drowned in sorrow / and still have somehow found / a way to breathe, then you are the ones, she tells us, who can lead us through life. Like the fairy tale with a trail of breadcrumbs, you are the ones who will help us find / our way back to the home of of our hearts. In other words, you have a strange and wonderful gift to share, something necessary to all of life.




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