by Rick Hartwell

You are the innkeeper of your heart;
So, is there room in your heart for:
            outsiders seeking succor,
            poor seeking employment,
            outcasts seeking acceptance,
            homeless seeking shelter?

You are the innkeeper of your soul;
So, is there room in your soul for:
            aimlessness needing purpose,
            trespasses needing forgiveness,
            grief needing understanding,
            despair needing blessing?

Gather the cries of anguish under one roof;
Let the tears of faith salve their open wounds.

(Credits to Rev. Fr. Edwin Convelva, MS, for the image of the “innkeeper of your heart and soul.”)

Rick Hartwell is a retired middle school teacher living in Southern California with his wife of forty-seven years, Sally (upon whom he is emotionally, physically, and spiritually dependent), two grown children, a daughter-in-law, two granddaughters, and sixteen cats. Like the Transcendentalists and William Blake, he believes that the instant contains eternity.