Human

You do not find it by being nice

Certainly not in what people say

When buying, working, selling

Or in bite down chunks of corporate expression

In the cold night air

Or the sweat filled sun

When they might run you down

Might share a word

Strangers you never see again

Lovers, breaking that ice with saltwater conversation

In the pages of wise men and women

Who know what you felt

And the suggestions of those looking up and not down to the ground

Maybe once in a very long while

But you do not soon forget

What a human being looks like

And what humanity, in its cartilage and silver virtue

Really, honestly is.

By J.W.H. Hobbs.