Do not rush to make meaning.
When you smile and say what purpose
this all serves, you deny grief
a room inside you,
you turn from thousands who cross
into the Great Night alone,
from mourners aching to press
one last time against the warm
flesh of their beloved,
from the wailing that echoes
in the empty room.
When you proclaim who caused this,
I say pause, rest in the dark silence
first before you contort your words
to fill the hollowed out cave,
remember the soil will one day
receive you back too.
Sit where sense has vanished,
control has slipped away,
with futures unravelled,
where every drink tastes bitter
despite our thirst.
When you wish to give a name
to that which haunts us,
you refuse to sit
with the woman who walks
the hospital hallway, hears
the beeping stop again and again,
with the man perched on a bridge
over the rushing river.
Do not let your handful of light
sting the eyes of those
who have bathed in darkness.
I enjoyed and journeyed with this poem - right until the end and then I stumbled. As a Quaker steeped in the idea of Divine Light that shines through the world, by way of our souls - I reacted against those last three lines.
ReplyDeleteI understand the movement of soul to say "Be careful of others sorrows."
For me the last three lines are a summary of the poem, entreating the onlooker to others misfortune to open their heart and let their compassion pour forth rather than look for or provide answers with the rational mind alone. In other words, to walk a mile in someone else's shoes.
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