Tessa Ransford OBE, Hon.DUniv (Paisley), MA, Dip Ed Poetry Practitioner and Adviser 31 Royal Park Terrace, Edinburgh EH8 8JA, Scotland, U.K. Tel : 0131 661 1277 E-mail : wisdomfield@talk21.com

A cup of Kindness Faith, Hope and Charity wrote St Paul in his hymn to Love these three abide In Iraq, explains Canon White on the radio, Democracy is not what people yearn for blasted on them as it was through missiles and bombs What they most want, why can't we understand, is water, electricity and kindness life, communication, things working normally God only knows Buddha only knows Mohammed only knows everyone knows we want the kindness which lies at the heart of our being For boys and girls, men and women, animals and plants for all who go about their lives for daily bread and caring for one another it is kindness we want In Scotland we have given a song to the world 'a cup of kindness' to take, to drink, to share Water, electricity and kindness, but the greatest of these is kindness.