PAGES OF SORROW

I weep for too few days left, and too many,

and collect tears in leaves being swept

from trees burning on the coasts

of two continents, burying them in dunes.

My sadnesses grow from joy as well

as small unhappinesses, but all bring

a weighty importance in the moment

of their happenstance, and I have learned

to honour each one with the individual

ritualistic ceremony I deem proper

to the occasion;

This might involve an hour of silence,

or days on my knees.

I sob when I learn of children dying

anywhere - victims of genocide,

war, or infanticide...and depending

where I am in my own life,

the accumulation of pain,

is a strong indicator,

as to how much more I can bear

to amass --

If I am not cognizant of the sorrows

I am toting like carry-on baggage

at any one time -- it is easy

for me to slip into a state

where I cannot control

the amount of despair sloshing

within my being...

However, if dawn's curtains part

on skies gray as gloom,

I find counting

distressful situations irresistible

Before my feet even hit the floor

I number: the labs using animals

to test for mak-eup,

the Navy sending sonar through

the oceans, making whales bleed inside

My eyes are swimming as I remember

our Tar Sands are spilling daily

with no regard to those living

downstream

I cannot seem to turn off the reel

of Baby M; the tiny girl laying dead

 and cold in a local cemetery

Starved and beaten by her parents

who are now imprisoned,

awaiting a trial starting here in

several months...

It's usually the last one that either

forces me to pull the covers

back up and over reality...

Or me up and out into the dark world...

Again, it matters in what part of

the dismal world I find myself...

dVerse - Thursday July 25, 2013