To Feel Or Not To Feel
To feel or not to feel, that is the question:
Whether it’s braver, in mind, to endure
The mocking and whispers of love,
Or to rebel, and grow cold in heart
And by becoming so, end pain? To die inside,
Feel no more; and by not feeling, to end
The heart-ache and a thousand flowing tears
That this heart sheds; this, a thing
So completely longed for. To die inside, to sleep;
To sleep; and then maybe dream; that’s the danger,
For in putting feelings to sleep, what dreams
May haunt the empty heart and soul,
To make me pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of such a long life;
For who would bear the claws and scorns of love;
The lover’s wrongs, the haughty upturned nose,
The pangs of broken hope, the raging anger,
The loss of self and screaming pain,
Every useless action of trying to be seen,
To end it all by merely becoming
complete stone inside? Who would such pain bare,
To weep and laugh and scream beneath life,
Except for fear of complete emptiness,
The darker, far less traveled country
Where all is flat and cold, puzzling
And so frightening, a guard against ending
All the wretched pain inside?
And so, the fear of emptiness, of becoming nothing
Keeps us a slave to tyrannical Feeling;
And so, despite how wearisome it is
And no matter how great the desire
To feel no more desire, sorrow or love,
True human nature continues to prevail,
Perpetuating the strong waves of emotion.
Copyright © Karlin K. Jensen | Year Posted 2013
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