Saturday, March 19, 2011

A Short Reprieve

Should I feel a modicum of guilt
if I choose to delight myself
with the sounds of chosen music
and the loveliness of words
captured between papyrus leaf

while my neighbor scrounges for food
and a warm cove that once was
her domicile disrupted with the spontaneity
of nature’s eruptive fragility
distroying her diurnal comfort

my heart palpitates with sympathy
my eyes swollen with tears
sincere with empathy
charitable donations placed
given within my means

my soul requests a small reprieve
from the visuals and sounds
of the cries from Sendai
a short escape into the warmth
of a compartmentalized space

If I would be there
I'd help pick up the debris
from your streets, distribute
warm blankets and water
but it’s beyond my means

so, if you please,
with mitigated guilt
I shall hug my wife my kids
tell them how much
I appreciate this moment
unlike the wrath placed before you

4 comments:

  1. I too find myself feeling guilty for enjoying creature comforts these days. I suppose all we can do is appreciate what we have, not take our blessings for granted, and help where we can.

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  2. Yes, I believe there's a lot of us that do but this seems to be reoccuring events lately. Maybe, we are being reminded in a most poignant way from a power that we have been disavowing.
    I know I am reminded not that I'm not continually aware but maybe not with the true conviction of cognizance.

    This was a cathartic moment of expression.

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  3. This is such an important thought. I once heard that to live in modern times, we have to be capable of holding joy in one hand and sorrow in the other.

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  4. I like that Hannah ...we have to be capable of holding joy in one hand and sorrow in the other.

    Thanks to yours, Kathleen Kirk's and Lolamouse's insightful contributions my perspective is continually expanding.

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