Soulager

When my eyes

were opened to see

that you carry the same gift

the same curse

this crippling empathy

which opens us like doors 

to the pain of the world

so that other people’s emotions

hit us like bricks 

flying from a falling wall

and the knife block 

of their suffering 

strikes us in every moment 

for a second I was

filled with hope 

that you knew a better way

to survive and to be 

unwounded 

but I have been watching 

and I see 

only the same tricks 

that I’ve learned through 

these four and a half decades

soulager with your

sweet talking

shut down

strike first

eat their suffering 

until you are poisoned by it 

let your body 

be a bridge 

across the chasm 

that others may walk.

Photo courtesy of David McCaskill

https://500px.com/photo/1050311655/abstract-shadow-door-by-david-mccaskill