-- The Burdens We Carry --

by John Herlihy

The burdens we carry never seem light,

Burdens to make the day seem as night.

Through life, we carry our own sadness,

Burdens with no sense of peacefulness.

Hatred and shame fill up the empty space,

This a mark of humanity in the human race

Wrong-doing sown with a thread of guilt,

The river of life carries burdensome silt.

Even love bears the burden of mystery,

The gift offered with such responsibility.

Everyday feeling this outpouring of love,

On extended wings in the flight of a dove.

Then the burden of the self that we carry,

So many contradictions that never marry.

We are messy and unpredictable, but kind,

We lose, miss, fret amid miracles of mind.

Free will yes, but it doesn’t always apply,

Emotions take over compelling us to cry.

We cannot choose what we do remember,

We cannot choose what we wish to forget.

We leave behind our childhood innocence,

We hide behind a mask as useful pretense.

We enter in a world of uncertain mystery,

A world of loneliness and loss and misery.

The pain of our pain is what we remember,

Little joys we encounter is what we forget.

To accept burdens as companionable grief,

To ultimately offer us companionable relief.

Our burdens remind us of who we truly are,

Having descended to earth as a fallen star.

Harsh reminders never ourselves deceive,

Only in the power of ourselves to believe.

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Copyright © John Herlihy

Saturday 8 June 2024