For Warmth

I hold my face in my two hands.

No, I am not crying. 

I hold my face in my two hands 

to keep the loneliness warm—

two hands protecting, 

two hands nourishing, 

two hands preventing 

my soul from leaving me 

in anger.

 

by Thich Nhat Hanh, written after the bombing of Ben Tre, Vietnam when an American military man made the comment, "We had to destroy the town in order to save it." 

From the book, Call Me By My True Names