Pain

I take the world's pain. Reflexively Unconsciously With such great facility The globe's own personal Giver Autologous torment on the other hand Hides in a maze of inaccessibility. It is hazy, out of focus Like a distant memory of a past dream Oh, but external pain Beckons with a frequency only I am attuned to It is palpable Cuts me with sharpness It draws me like a magnet to the north I soak it in through every pore When my body is too full I stack it on my shoulders Hunched under the weight My feet move slowly and deliberately Don't fall. Don't drop it. I stay on 2 feet Yet buildings crumble around me And within me Agony bullets ping pong off my organs Leaving visceral holes, On ramps for poison to seep into my blood stream There must be a cure A way to shield and deflect And to purge my bones of the venom But without the weighted blanket of torment My own bones would be exposed I couldn't stand the sight of their brittleness So I continue to cushion them with quilts of despondency. At least they have something to lean on.