TOUCHED

What you just said touched me,

well, I mean, it moved me, jolted me actually,

out of my self-obsessed ruminations.

It made me feel warm and good,

good in a loving sort of way,

a way, I mean, like a path,

a path that leads you somewhere.

This one led to a loving place inside me.

It instantly made me feel more whole and hopeful.

It encourages me to do what you just did.

So many times we say things,

things that go way past touch,

things that poke and puncture each other.

But what you did told me 

that you actually really saw me--

and we don’t even know each other.

We’ve never actually met! I mean, 

we've just brushed against each other’s life

ever so lightly, ever so randomly 

for just this one moment. I know,

brief encounters like this occur all the time, 

and then, maybe never again 

between the same two people.

But you didn’t let that stop you

from reaching out to me,

from saying something so, so humanizing,

something so completely uncalled for but kind,

I mean kind in a we're-in-this-life-together way.

I’m really, honestly, deeply touched.

And all you did was smile and say, "Hi."

"Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these. . . . you did it to me.' (Jesus in Mt 25:40)