Cocooning

A poem
by Steve Doughty

Eyes touched by grace look personally on me, and they look
personally on each one of us, not to see what is missing.
Nor do they look to see what, with great effort and much
improvement, we might become, They simply look,
and they love.

Looking and loving, the eyes touched by grace are not then
glazed over with sentiment. Seeing deeply, they awaken
in us a response that lets us grow stronger within, more
open to others, more mature in our love.

Eyes touched by grace are eyes that look outward on the
world's harshest pain and, in the process, teach our eyes
to do the same. And eyes touched by grace then tutor us
that we may respond to the pain even as the possessors
of those eyes, with great sensitivity, already have done
and continue to do.

Eyes touched by grace possess the wisdom to pause before
the most common scenes of loveliness, to trace the gentle
contours of a laugh, or of another's hand, or of the
fresh breeze that marks a season's change.

Eyes touched by grace belong to those who have heard the Grace Giver say, "Behold, the reign of God is in your midst!"
and then have dared to pray,
"Let us see! Let us see!"