By Yahia Lababidi *
Mercy surrounds
the living and the dead,
the visible and the unseen,
the faithful
and those who have forgotten faith.
It breathes through creation,
the pulse
that sustains being.
To choose mercy
is to confess
every true act of justice
carries tenderness within it.
Judgement without compassion
turns to stone—
Creation begins
with a breath of mercy
the possibility
that the world endures
through its renewal.
* Yahia Lababidi, an Egyptian-Palestinian author of more than ten books, has been called "our greatest living aphorist". He has contributed to news, literary and cultural institutions throughout the USA, Europe and the Middle East, such as: Oxford University, Pearson, PBS NewsHour, NPR, and HBO.
Lababidi’s latest book (due October 2026) is If You Cannot Say GENOCIDE, published by New Village Press, and distributed by NYU Press. The author may be contacted at y.lababidi@yahoo.com
