Good Friday Poem by Michael Shepherd

A recipe for thought:

Take a pair of scales
as large as the boundless human mind,
and into one scale
pour all the goodness in the world that you can see
carefully
and into the other,
all the evil in the world that you can see;
into the first scale now add
all the joy that you have known
(the joy of others you can never measure)
and into the other, all the misery,
(the misery of others you can never measure) :
into the first, add all the laughter you can remember,
and into the second, all the tears;

and now, from the cupboards of your heart,
add what you will
to either scale:
the hopes and fears
of all the years.

now give one day each year
to the watching of these scales
and see if slowly, gently, as we watch
with all our love
the scales
move