The Nature of War as it is Waged Inside My Head
Empathy my strength or
empathy my weakness?
Empathy traps me
in your loose ends
knotted up in my heart.
Empathy teaches me
how to forgive,
teaches me
how to forget,
can it teach me
how to trust again?
Empathy softens me
hardens you
justifies you.
Empathy
breathes silent reminders
keeps memories around
to drown
me.
Empathy makes you human.
paints you rash
it asks
What would I do? I say
Love would find a way.
But in my empathy,
is that not just as acceptable
an answer for tomorrow
as I would like it to be
yesterday?
Empathy, ushering in
the summer,
always so very hard on me
year after year,
by ensuring our connection
as it decays.
Empathy makes you me
but for me to be me
I must deny me
and take me from you.
Empathy makes me fear you
tears wrought by the permanence
rolling off my tongue, is this
my lesson?
How do I deny my empathy
like the villain it has
always seemed to be
to me?
How much
must I give
of myself
to escape
from you
alive?
2 thoughts on "The Nature of War as it is Waged Inside My Head"
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A poem so good it got posted twice!
I don’t understand the formatting, is there a secret message I missed? (Probably)
Yea, I messed up on posting when I left the title off and tried to fix it. Oops!
As for formatting, I don’t vary format often, so it started off as an experiment. As I wrote, though, I felt like it kind of matched how being empathetic has both allowed me to see things in multiple ways, so I kept the formatting.
I also acknowledge the formatting could have been a terrible decision, but hey! At least I tried something different!