Apr 2018
As I go past each, I am struck with sonder,
With each new face, I cannot help but wonder,
Have their lives been whole or torn a sunder
Live with purpose or live in blunder.
Hearts as complex, as unknown, as touched by others.
Friends and family, enemies and lovers.
Lives at rest or tense with stress.
Rooms all clean or clothes a mess.
Calm or angry, happy or sad.
Angel or demon, good or bad.
I know nothing about anyone’s soul.
All I know is that they have lived as all;
As strangers that I cannot begin to understand,
All of us stuck together and sharing this land.
With each new face, I cannot help but wonder,
Have their lives been whole or torn a sunder
Live with purpose or live in blunder.
Hearts as complex, as unknown, as touched by others.
Friends and family, enemies and lovers.
Lives at rest or tense with stress.
Rooms all clean or clothes a mess.
Calm or angry, happy or sad.
Angel or demon, good or bad.
I know nothing about anyone’s soul.
All I know is that they have lived as all;
As strangers that I cannot begin to understand,
All of us stuck together and sharing this land.
Sonder is a made up word by The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. They define it as the realisation that passersby have lives as vivid and complex as your own. Its a nice word and words become real by our using them. So I wrote this to add to its legitimacy.
