Invisible Hugs

be kind to those you meet, whether you know them or not, for they might be facing a battle far greater than your own.

For the Sake of Strangers by Dorianne Laux
No matter what the grief, its weight,
we are obliged to carry it.
We rise and gather momentum, the dull strength
that pushes us through crowds.
And then the young boy gives me directions
so avidly. A woman holds the glass door open,
waiting patiently for my empty body to pass through.
All day it continues, each kindness
reaching toward another—a stranger
singing to no one as I pass on the path, trees
offering their blossoms, a retarded child
who lifts his almond eyes and smiles.
Somehow they always find me, seem even
to be waiting, determined to keep me
from myself, from the thing that calls to me
as it must have once called to them—
this temptation to step off the edge
and fall weightless, away from the world.


"The poem is about the experience of continuing through daily life despite feeling immense grief. Although "For the Sake of Strangers" is about an individual who is struggling with emotional pain, Laux creates a picture of hope as she describes strangers, unaware of the speaker's pain, showing kindness. The poem depicts a remedy to loneliness and hopelessness. The pain felt by the poem's speaker is a common problem, but the solution is somewhat unexpected.

She draws understated connections between the people in the poem, pointing to the universality of human experience. The people are strangers to the speaker in the poem, but they are not strangers to the speaker's pain. They have compassion for her because they, too, have felt grief."



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have you seen Me in the sun that shines each morning?
have you heard the ramblings of a child?
have you felt Me in the gentle touch of rainfall?
and known the kindness in a stranger's eyes?

I am the joy that rings in your laughter.
Mine is the Hand that soothes your pain.
I am the strength when dreams are broken and done.
I am the hope that will not fade.
- Love Untold, The Easter Journey
Lyrics by Paulo Tirol