The origin of compassion

In order to act with compassion, 

We must first allow ourselves to feel 

Both our own pain and the pain of others; 

Both those encircled by our love 

And those outside it,

Whose choices, reasoning and experience 

We find it difficult or impossible to comprehend. 

We start by remembering how much of life — 

The longings and the losses, 

The birth and death, the earth we walk, 

And the very air we breathe — 

Is common to us all.