Tag Archives: kindness

Poetry, Writing

Hafiz – Poem 21

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All images created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompts using AI on Gencraft.com website.

I am reading Hafiz’s Little Book of Life, poetry by Hafiz-e Shirazi. He is challenging me to become more comfortable with ambiguity. I will share his poem and some of my thoughts on his poem (sometimes with the help of experts when the concepts are too hard for me), followed by a poem and some art inspired by his poem.

Hafiz’s Poem 21:

You might think those who speak harmfully

Will get away with it

But they’re being monitored by

The Recording Angels

Some thoughts:

This one got me pondering what it is to speak harmfully. Of course there are the obvious types of harmful speech like threats, abusive language, hurtful insults, comments meant to undermine a person’s self-confidence, disrespectful utterances, and slander. But there are other types of speech that possibly harm less directly, like gossip, argument simply to sow discord, lies, rude tones, sarcasm mean to wound or undermine, gaslighting, fake news, and attempting to rewrite reality to suit the victor or person in power. None of these is good for the speaker or the receiver of the information. Ultimately, something negative has been unleashed when anyone employs harmful speech as a tactic.

Often, people who make a habit of such behaviors appear to get away with it. Why else would they keep doing it, except that it benefits them and they get their way by using insults and lies as weapons. But Hafiz does not believe that those people will get away with it in the end. He seems to think every word uttered by humans are monitored. Whoever these Recording Angels are, they probably don’t take too kindly to having to work overtime lately. Even if despicable speech goes unpunished today, the speaker has been recorded in somebody’s book as someone who speaks harmfully.  

My Poem 21:

As regards the habit of opening
the mouth for the purpose of emitting
words meant for other people:
Speak kindly to others,
and be generous with praise.
Share appreciation easily.
Be quick with a soothing word,
with compassion overflowing.
Let poetry and song spring
forth with abundance.
Offer gentle reassurance,
and share steady encouragement.
Keep truth on the tip of the tongue,
and only fill silence with peace,
tenderness, humor, vulnerability,
genuine friendliness, graciousness,
humility, and hopefulness.

Hafiz. Hafiz’s Little Book of Life. Translated by Erfan Mojib and Gary Gach, Hampton Roads Publishing, 2023.

Poetry, Writing

Hafiz – Poem 19

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All images created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompts using AI on Gencraft.com website.

I am reading Hafiz’s Little Book of Life, poetry by Hafiz-e Shirazi. He is challenging me to become more comfortable with ambiguity. I will share his poem and some of my thoughts on his poem (sometimes with the help of experts when the concepts are too hard for me), followed by a poem and some art inspired by his poem.

Hafiz’s Poem 19:

The town is empty of love

Until one person

Acts beyond their self

Some thoughts:

Sometimes powerful movements start small:

  • One little girl protesting outside the Swedish Parliament about the climate (Great Thunberg).
  • A small group of students protesting education policies in South Africa (1976 Soweto Uprising).
  • One woman refusing to give up her seat on a bus (Rosa Parks).
  • A hashtag in response to the acquittal of a murderer (Black Lives Matter).
  • One woman researching the dangers of pesticides for a book she was writing (Silent Spring by Rachel Carson and the beginning of The Environmental Movement of the 1960s).

We often don’t feel like our contributions matter or the fact that we are only one person cannot possibly make a difference. It simply is not true. Each choice we make to share love or kindness increases goodness in the world. The ripple effect can restore relationships, heal families, and build communities. And team up with a likeminded friend or partner? Imagine the good we can do; the help we can offer this broken world. Hafiz knew this, must have witnessed it, or was that person for someone else. That is who I want to be.

My Poem 19:

A kind word offered

may mean the world to someone

who has nothing else.

Hafiz. Hafiz’s Little Book of Life. Translated by Erfan Mojib and Gary Gach, Hampton Roads Publishing, 2023.


Essays, Writing

💗 Choose Kind Words

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All images created by Rebekah Marshall’s prompts using AI on Gencraft.com website.

I choose words that honor the tenderness of being human — words that lift, soothe, and encourage the soul in every body, including mine, especially mine.

🌸 Why This Holds My Truth:

  • “I choose words…”
    ➤ I’m stepping into intentional language — not reactive or habitual, but chosen like prayer.
  • “…that honor the tenderness of being human”
    ➤ Reminds me (gently) that all bodies, all conditions, all stages of life deserve honor — not comparison or contempt.
  • “…lift, soothe, and encourage the soul…”
    ➤ This is what I want my words to do — to myself and to others: not push harder, not punish, but nourish.
  • “…in every body, including mine, especially mine.”
    ➤ This is the healing pivot. The part of me that easily loves and uplifts others must be turned inward — with extra gentleness, because this is the wound that most needs balm.

(I am doing the writing exercises in the back of the book You are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero, and this topic was about saying kind words. I am also learning to trade futures, so the art is related to the charts we use to make the trades.)