love and suffering
carnage and progress
opposites that harmonize
to the point of cliché
perhaps one cannot exist
without the other
so much of the melodrama
that is intrinsically tied to
humanity comes from our
individual dreams, at once
extravagant and mundane
needing to take center stage
perhaps our whole culture
comes down to children shouting
each vying for the attention
of our mother, pushing siblings
out of the way at whatever cost