May it stop

Sitting at my desk

The detritus of my day scattered around me

Tasks undone

Books unread

My mind is distracted

and my soul twisted

the news of the day has once again

torn the fabric of my soul

once again I have plumbed he depths

of my own inability to connect

I have gone through the motions

Quite sincerely

I have listened and encouraged

but have felt more like an observer

that a participant in the dance of life

and now nerve pain streaks across my shoulder

nerve fibers screaming their discontent

and pain begets pain begets pain

and soon my body sags

everything hurts

and what doesn’t hurt doesn’t work

and my bully braining, seizing the opportunity begins to tell me

that it is all meaningless

and that this is the sum of life

this emptiness and dissatisfaction

this anger and outrage

this despair

and there seems like nothing to do

but breathe into this pain

and let it flow

down, down, down

through my fingertips

onto the keys of my computer

and on to this page

and I as look at these words

and feel diminished by them

(I should do better than this)

I breathe

And breathe again

And mutter under my breath

To that which is intimate and immanent

Bargaining

Complaining

Hoping

Just wanting it all to stop

All the pain

The pain of the children at the border

And that of LBGTQI people who are told by so called people of God

That they deserve to die

The pain of women raped

Abandoned

beaten

Forced to give birth

The of those with cancer

And mental illness

The pain of those who have lost someone they love to death

The pain of those bullied

And my little inconveniences too