The Art of Self-Tending : Cultivating Inner Peace

In crowded streets strangers pass with hurried feet
Their eyes cast down, their thoughts elsewhere, discrete
What burdens weigh upon their weary souls?
What inner storms leave creases, lines and holes?
Faces etched with furrows, frowns and wrinkled brows
Carry untold tales of life's harsh blows
In shaded parks friends laugh and children play
Unburdened by the struggles of the day
Their beaming faces alight with simple joys
Undimmed by trials that time employs
On bustling trains in patient queues we wait  
Forging ahead towards uncertain fate  
Beside us fellow travelers on life's ride   
Each one concealing a story inside    
Behind bright eyes or tired gazes distant
Are chapters complex and circumstances different
What shapes the actions and the words one speaks?
What inner landscape forms the hills and peaks?
The valleys carved so deep, the rivers flowing
All part of someone's unique story, growing
For we cannot know another's full terrain
The texture of their blessings and their pain
We grasp but pieces, fragments of their heart
And cannot tell what tore their soul apart
What cherished dreams were lost along the way
Or secrets that in shadowed corners stay
Their map is theirs alone to traverse and relay
The roads they walked in darkness or in day
You cannot redraw what they have undergone
Or edit chapters cruel and battles won
The most we hope is understand in part
With open minds and all-embracing heart
That how they treat us, act and what they say
Comes from their landscape mapped a certain way
Formed by the weathering of time and place
The shading of events beyond our trace  
We own our field, our boundaries, our space
And how their storm clouds cross into our place
With patience, care, we till our inner earth
And nurture well the seeds of healing, worth    
So when harsh gales descend, we stand intact
Our fences strong, foundation firm, intact  
The tempest passes, we're still standing tall      
Its gusts and showers could not make us fall
For we have toiled to shape our inner land   
To bear the blows of circumstance's hand
And trust that just as we are tending ours   
Other gardens grow beyond closed doors
If we reach out with kindness, understanding   
And see all people not as foe, but friend
Perhaps in time compassion shown, care given
Can help bring peace to other's gardens riven  
And heal the lands laid barren from life's battering
Restore the sparkling streams, trees gently scattering
The fruits of wisdom, mercy and connection
That makes us kindred, bonds in all perfection.
For when we know we reap as we have sown
Then we must sow the love we wish was shown.

At home, alone, we craft our inner space
A refuge from the worldly rat race
Each brick and beam aligned with cherished meaning
Walls swathed in shades of comfort, self-esteeming

A hearth ablaze with sparks of inspiration
Warming chilled hopes, fueling imagination

Library shelves stocked withvolumes time-worn

Filled with the wisdom generations have borne
Sturdy chairs invite peaceful contemplation
A garden blooms sensual recreation

With vines and flowers in a curated composition
Exuding gentle beauty to lift oppression
This sanctuary built by our own hand

Stands as a testament to self-command
Though outside storms may fiercely batter

Inside, we dwell secure, spirits feel lighter
For we know this space is of our own making

Shaped slowly with care, effortful taking

To grant us solace, perspective and grounding
When turmoil surrounds, set worldly confounding
Yet even here, darkness sometimes seeps

When memories haunt, old pain hardly sleeps
Past griefs and scars we cannot fully outrun
Some wounds remain under the ruthless sun
On days when powerless we feel, despairing

The inner storms with fiercest tempest flaring
We must cling to the gifts time has rendered
The lessons earned, insights surrendered

Have faith we'll weather even this barrage
For we've survived the harshest voyage

And our own light shall steadily shine
To push back the darkness, boldly define

The goodness innately dwelling inside
No outside gale can fully divide
For though others may forget who we are
We must never relinquish our inner star
Keep stoking its glow when barely a flicker
Fan the embers, reignite the ticker

Trust in due time the blazing shall return
The radiance we've nurtured, steadily burn
For even as others misunderstand
We know who we are, have shaped our own land

Stood strong against life's battering erosion
Shored up our spirit against tumult's collision
So when spoken words pierce like arrows tipped
Or others' deeds leave us shaken, adrift
We find our footing, alignment again
Connected to purpose, vision and whence
We came, why we're here, where we shall go
Our true north, guiding light, Always aglow
For all that matters at end of each day
Is living aligned with our truth, our way
Staying grounded in who we know we are
Bright beacons regardless of how dark the far
Beyond which we cannot control or command

But here in our inner home, heart, mind, hand
We captain ourselves across fate's demand

Choosing still how we walk this gifted land
With head held high, spirit flying free
Loving others and self equally.