Tag: Empathy

A Living Heart

~ Vanessa ~ 1 Comment

At wits end I balance;

Balancing,
I tight rope walk on feet that are raw,
hold in a pulsating primal scream of release,
That might offend other’s ears;

A caregiver,
I gather the weight,
The pain,
The scars
and the “I just cant”-s in a container of compassion, composed of empathy;
My beating heart feels the pressure
To do and hold it all;
And to yet remain softened,
While the beating muscle toughens from use,
And so
At times I fall
I melt,
Like the tears from my own eyes,
I collapse into that of which I am most made
Water,
And of this substance
I may release,
Relax,
Soothe, and soak
heal a living heart,
And from this recompose.

Admonished Tears

~ Vanessa ~ Leave a comment

They could not understand
Why I cried,
Why I panicked as if the pain
Were my own,
They shamed me,
judged,
admonished,
And shunned
The empathy I bestowed,
The desperate need to do,
To right a moral wrong,
That my hands were too small to handle

I could feel my baby being torn
From my breast,
As I learned of countless babies taken from families,
In exchange for attempted border security,
Breathless at the prospect,
I feared how far such a set up would go,
I feared how much could be repeated,
And “improved” upon,

I feared,
I feared a fear so great only matched by that of the taken child,
My tears were matched with cold apathy,
As I realize theirs were being met too,
My tears were a microcosm of the anguish at hand,
A reminder of my human heart,
That bleeds and breaks,
And grows with tears I cry for others,
My burden of lone tears in recognition of atrocities was meant to be,
To find my place fighting for the ignored tears,
That should never have need be shed

Both Ways

~ Vanessa ~ Leave a comment

Open up your heart,
There is so much pain
Outside its walls,
Open up your heart,
And know it’s better for love when shared,
Open up ,
Up is where you will find
The freedom,
Open up,
And know you’ll be letting in
The love,
The light;
This goes both ways