tears spring to the eyes

so full of feeling

I love it when I feel so full of feeling
that tears spring to my eyes,
when the calluses I’ve built up
forget they’re there enough
so that I can feel the touch of the other upon me,
the tug on my heart of my own children,
my own grandchildren,
the children I teach,
the wife I love,
the friends I get,
the connections I can have,
the beauty revealed before my eyes
in plant and animal and vista,
the beauty revealed within the eyes of those before me
who work so hard to release that of God within them,

when I truly notice the gifts before me,
and those before now who are not fully present,
except in echo,
I contend that I best honor the glory within that moment
when the moment brings tears ready to fall.

by Henry Walker
November 25, ’10