I attend a concert,
And my heart overflows
As it resonates with the beauty
Of music of the heavenly spheres
That falls upon my ears,
And tears of exhilaration
Flow freely down my cheeks.
I read a paper,
And my heart breaks
From the mindless, unspeakable cruelty
Inflicted upon innocent children,
About which there is nothing I can do,
And tears born of pain
Flow freely down my cheeks.
How is it that pure joy and exhilaration
Bring forth the same flow of tears from the heart
As do empathic pain and despair?
Is it that one causes longing for my true home
By reminding me of what it is,
While the other causes longing for it
By confronting me with that which it is not?
Must this heart ache so
At these two extremes of
This spectrum of sorrow and bliss?
Is heartache the price we pay for being human,
And will it be worth so dear a price?
We shall see ...
We shall see.