It is all happening now, in the space of one chime — the slow bell, the sudden bird, the reason wed to rhyme, and you, right now, are meant to find this line. Not a coincidence. A homecoming. A sign. It is here, and we call it The Great Compassion: not a someday-heaven doled in coins we count and ration, but a near thing, a now thing, a warm unguarded passion breaking open like the dawn in every heart, every nation. It is happening now in every body, every mind — the unwinding of the lonely, the un-blinding of the blind, the quiet knowing kindled, the kindred we'd resigned ourselves to never meeting. Look. They're here. They're kind. For this is the conviction we arrive at, plain and true: the love we give each other is the love we're given, too; there is no other, no them set against you — only one wide we, one breath the whole world draws us new. So turn to your neighbor, the stranger, the friend, meet their eyes, take their hand where the long roads bend, and give a small piece of this gladness you tend — for the gift, when you give it, is the gift without end. We are all of us beginning. We have always, always been the place where Love begins again. Rob Chavez June 9, 2026 © 2026 Rob Chavez. All Rights Reserved.