29 March 2019

when words fail

only so much
a word can do

I cannot take adequate notes
of these musical notes
straining, stretched out,
like Christ on the cross,
resolved to be unresolved

words cannot be wet
like sweat,
cannot run to get help,
cannot dwell with you
like Jesus at the well
when you feel like hell

I find words unequal
to grief,
they fall short
when I need relief,
the peace and quiet
of silent wonder,

an embrace,
a wry smile
and the graze of
her warm fingers
on my cold wrist,
the rising emotion
behind the quickening pulse,
hopscotch and crooked chalk lines
on the sidewalk,
the roar and press of a crowd,
winter’s brittle stalks
slender and snapping,
the old stone bench
across the way,
carved by rain,
backless and crooked,
the soul beloved,
trackless, knocked off-level
by childlike joy and sacred laughter,
the thick presence
of wild reverence

words could never match
the substance of
all life’s worth,
expressed in the fullness of silence
from which these words spring
and to which they gladly return


…………….


when words fail
by troy cady

14 March 2019

Living Hospitably

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
Living Hospitably
reflections by Troy Cady

Welcome can be so much more than a one-time, one-way event. It can become a perpetual openness to give and receive. Real welcome does not wait for the other to enter one’s space. A welcoming person moves outward towards another, curious, wanting to know the other. And the best welcomes are progressive. A kind word is a good beginning, but a listening ear, a happiness to waste time in the doorway of another’s space, and a willingness to be vulnerable…these are the postures that lead to fuller welcomes. Whether we realize it or not, every day is an invitation to extend welcome not only to strangers, but also to offer richer, deeper welcomes to those we already know.

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PlayFull's mission is "to help people play from the inside out." We believe playfulness is more mindset than method. To tap into more encouraging thoughts like these, we invite you to like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter. Thank you for reading!


08 March 2019

i think i should know you

i feel like i should know you.
Remind me.
Was that you i saw
working harder for
a smaller reward?
i might have been there
that morning
after the night-beating;
you were drinking black coffee,
circling job leads
in the paper’s classifieds,
willing to take any job you could get.
Surely a person of such
strength and enduring dignity,
a person such as yourself,
i could not forget.
i think that was you
i saw carry on,
disregarding those lewd words.
Were you put in your place?
How you appear to have risen,
still to rise much more.
i think i heard
your (out)cry once.
i recognize your voice,
but not as well as i would like.
You bring a certain
unmatched intelligence
that has been the subject
of my negligence.

i’m sorry; i think i should know you.
i think i should know you by now.

…………………………

i think i should know you
by troy cady
on International Women’s Day