A History Without Suffering
In this poem there is no suffering.
It spans hundreds of years and records
no deaths, connecting when it can,
those moments where people are healthy
and happy, content to be alive. A Chapter,
maybe a Volume, shorn of violence
consists of an adult reading aimlessly.
This line is the length of a full life
smuggled in while no one was plotting
against a neighbour, except in jest.
Easter is coming, and right after that, National Poetry Month! I am looking forward to the poetic celebrating, and especially to the Progressive Poem.
Laura Purdie Salas will publish the first line here on April 1st! My day this year isn't until the 20th.
7 comments:
Your posts really pack a punch, Ruth! I am going to be chewing over the poem for a while.
Looking forward to Easter, and all the wonders of April!
This takes more than one reading, Ruth, and still I am wondering about that woman, and that person near the border, writing history so we can ignore it? Maybe. Thanks, as Tabatha says, your poems shared are always thought-filled. Happy Easter to you and your family.
Wow, Ruth--that poem really took me away, all over and seeking a history without suffering--which is, finally only momentary and only for some. I feel like I've been given an utterly new perspective. However do you find these so often?
May Easter renew you, too...
So true. We often feel like here and now in these days, there is such suffering... but when you take a step back and view the bigger world and times, suffering is such a part of history. In fact, so much of history is *defined* by suffering. As much as we would wish it isn't...
I'm with Heidi - may Easter renew you. Blessings.
Dear Ruth, thinking of you, my friend. one of the greatest gifts we can give one another is to sit with each other in our suffering... love to you. xo
A powerful poem. Truly no way to avoid suffering here in this life, but so good to know that nothing separates us from the one who comforts us best. Easter blessing to you.
Thank you for your Good Friday reflections; thank you for including a sobering poem. I'm reading your post today, and I'm thinking of the line I've heard and read so often: suffering can make one bitter or better. In that light, I'm thinking of the suffering and death of Mother Angelica, and how much it is true that suffering is an inescapable part of each person's life--but that it also is true that for those who love God, after Good Friday, there is Easter Sunday! Hope your Easter was glorious! God bless you!
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