April 2005 Edition

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Love Does That

Meister Eckhart

All day long a little burro labors,

sometimes with heavy loads on her back and sometimes
just with worries

about things that bother only
burros. 

And worries, as we know, can be more exhausting
than physical labor.

Once in a while a kind monk comes
to her stable and brings

a pear, but more
than that,

he looks into the burro’s eyes and touches her ears

and for a few seconds the burro is free
and even seems to laugh,

because love does that.

Love frees.

Healing Touch, original art by Agnes Nyanhongo, Zimbabwe;
photo, Cetta Kenney

 

This poem is from Love Poems From God, translated by Daniel Ladinsky, copyright 2002 by Daniel Ladinsky. Used through the courtesy of the translator.