David Hightower - Appalachian Poetry

There is That Pain
For Bill and Patricia Amos


There is that pain prophesized by the heart
that must be lived through to make love complete.
Ignored in our youth,
trembled at it in our age,
terrible, exquisite payment due
for becoming more than we are.
Reserved for those who would dare to care,
it cannot be sedated, cannot be evaded,
cannot be shared,
we are helpless to reject it.
It is a sacred suffering destined for each alone
to mourn and honor absence magnified by presence
with tears that may drown or make grow.
The paradox of love and loss
leads the soul into the stability of seasons,
yet skews the balance our days have created.
There is that pain that enhances the touch of time,
that makes profound the casual endearments
lovers whisper in the night
as they drift away forever joined
into their own separate dreams.