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.
Copyright © | Year Posted 2022

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Book: Diverse Voices: The Poetry of Human Rights and the Pursuit of Peace