The Song of the World

We cannot bear the suffering of the world

and it is in us. Our hunger is the same,

rooted in pain and we want to stop hurting.

We try to stop knowing so it will go away,

so we freeze. Do not feel. Do not show yourself.

We do not want to be seen in pain so we hide

from it, from ourselves, a sort of voluntary blindness.

We cannot move we cannot see we do not want

to be true. Paralyzed, the heart becomes numb

but sings inside without words, because words

from the heart must tell the truth and we don’t

want to hear it. Tell me I will not die, that I

will not suffer, and I will listen. Tell me I must accept

this tenderness and I will hide. In that deep secret place, pain

is the consuming darkness but we mistake it for safety because

it is familiar, because it is real. When I open my eyes there,

I am surrounded by the world. I will say this even if

no one listens. I say it because truth is. When will we

listen? Until then, we cannot hear the singing.

It is as though we are all asleep together.

As we stir, the song will be everywhere.

It will wake us.