A Poet's Last Will & Testament

I, a man diagnosed with cancer, being of sound mind but not of sound body,
do hereby bequeath to the world the following in the event of my demise:

For those without kindness,
I leave my compassion.
To those who cannot see the pain & suffering of others,
I leave my empathy.
For those who only see the differences between us,
I bestow tolerance.
For those who are selfish & greedy,
I give to you my charity.
To they who are miserly with their time,
I will my volunteerism.
To those who fail to see the humanity & dignity in every person,
I leave you my unshakable & selfless love for everyone.
To those who are in despair,
I give you my steadfast hope.
To the dejected & downhearted,
I give you my cheerfulness & joy.
To anyone who lacks vision,
I give you my imagination & creativity.
For anyone I have ever hurt,
I express my sincere apology.
For anyone who has been hurt by others,
I give to you my forgiveness.
To the unfortunate who have been bullied,
I leave my integrity & tenacity.
To those who are weary & exhausted,
I leave my boundless stamina.
To those who are weak,
I give my strength.
For those who are lost,
I leave my sense of direction.
To the lonely,
I confer the healing power of solitude & silence.
For those without pity or clemency,
I give you my mercy.
To those who are without love in their life,
I give you all my love.
For all those who cannot see the beauty in this world,
I leave my poet’s heart.
To those who wish me dead,
I bequeath my sympathy.

There is nothing else for me to give, nothing else to leave.
Nothing material matters.

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About the author: In the fall of 2022, Dr. John Smelcer was diagnosed with stage 2 B-cell, non-specified, non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a metastatic cancer of the lymphatic system. He is currently undergoing hospitalization cycles of chemo and immuno-therapy. John Smelcer is the author of 60 books, including a dozen books of poetry. His most recent collection is Raven. For a quarter century, he was Poetry Editor at Rosebud Magazine, where he currently serves as Senior Editor Emeritus. From 2016-2020, he was the Inaugural Writer-in-Residence for the Charter for Compassion, the world’s largest compassion movement with over five million members in 45 countries.