I was so touched
by waxy face
dark brown eyes
smiling helplessly
in sheer pain
of not knowing
day to day
hour to hour
whether
his loved ones
were still alive.
„My sister“, he says,
„who used to take
the children to school with me
every morning,
now
has to do it on her own.“
Small detail
almost meaningless
if you don’t know
that this sister lives
in war-stricken Syria
while
the speaker of these words
is here
beside me
smiling at me
in pain.
I was so touched by pain
that I cried
the next morning
while
breathing in
his pain
and
breathing out
calmness
and light blue relief.
Maybe
this is why
we
do
the terrible things
we
do:
to avoid
getting in touch
with
the pain of others.
