This world is not
for the faint of the heart,
for there are things
that will make your heart
faint and hurt and break.

And yet those of us
with tissue paper skin,
keep finding ways to
let light in and fold
our breaks
into origami cranes
of hope and beauty:

Sunstone stargazers
who know there is
more than this veil,
that Peace beats beneath
an unknowing earth.

Softly it sings
with prayer-tipped wings – –
Love will be our sanctuary.