The Ratio of Pain
a poem by Stefanie Vega
In a crisis of the human soul Where torment lives and takes its toll... The poets can articulate this pain. They'll pontificate a diatribe And so eloquently they'll describe The exclusive torment They reluctantly disdain. The misery they celebrate Gives them cause to illustrate The private torture they so willingly sustain. But all the while another soul Will feel the torment take its toll But share no genius talent to explain. All he knows is that he's alone With nagging sorrow in his bone Enduring, but refusing to complain. Consumed by heartache and distress And the inability to express The simplest of words to ease his pain. It's now that the poets' words can heal What he expresses, others feel And his exclusive rights to torment, Purely vain. The ability to express what's real Is a gift to share, so others heal And so the ego must renounce the claim. The feelings that some reveal, That others feel But conceal... In deepest truth... The pain is all the same.