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We seek a life free of suffering.
Yet to ask for joy without pain is to ask for an ocean with no water
A coin with one side, or a tree with no roots

Aye, dark, sinewy roots make strong the tallest of trees,
But we ask for strength yet with nothing to strengthen us?

Bliss is not found in endless comfort,
But rather in discomfort born willingly

So then, determined, stride through the swamps,
And never give the darkness permission to defeat you
Lest you sink in the muck, amongst the many poor souls that lie there forevermore...
I saw your blood pour down into the abyss, it danced like a river of abundance. I saw them opening their jaws, drinking it like water of vitality. I saw them leap for joy as they bathed in your crimson rain. You laid there beside me, pale and cobalt. You lay so free, you lay so pure. I touched your skin and my fingertips froze, your soul had fled. I felt sorrow, I felt pain. That night I died with you, I stuck the knife to feel your suffering, I stuck it deep without any shame. My eyes fogged as my final exhale misted the black air.
This is sanctity.
Homunculus Feb 2022
Breathing in, I dwell
deeply in this moment
Breathing out, I know,
it is the perfect moment

Breathing in, I see
it is an only moment
Breathing out, a moment
that's truly one of a kind

For appearances may
delude one into thinking
"This is nothing new
it has all happened before"

But the discrete events of THIS "now"
have never happened before
in precisely the same way
and they never will again

and though a moment may
be filled with pain or anger or despair
Just like the moment itself
these will also disappear

So too, a moment may
be filled with rapture, bliss, and joy
but as with the moment again
these will also disappear

Breathing in with this in mind
to what is there to cling?
Breathing out with this in mind
from what am I repelled?

Breathing in with this awareness,
I see each moment is a miracle
Breathing out with this awareness
a smile sweeps across the face

Breathing in, I'm here
Breathing out, I'm now
Breathing in I don't desire
Breathing out I'm free
For our accomplished teacher who has shed his mortal coil. The man who taught us how to embody peace, compassion, love, respect, and joy. Namo Thầy, namo!
Kahou Eru Jan 2022
I see you don't like me
My cordial mild mannered disposition failed
I didn't mean to stand out
It's not that I'm different
Honest
Just highly antisocial....  
Yet your giving me a hard time anyway  
How it must feel to have me in a bind
Well it's nothing new  
Another Cross to bear
Anyway soon we might part ways
No it's not you ,
it's  me I guess...
Mark Wanless Jan 2022
if no suffering
there is no true compassion
we thrive compassion
Asuzx Jan 2022
Portrayals of suffering -
Mine and everyone else’s -
What are your cravings for?
May you matter
Existing in this endless instant.

Voicings of my pain,
Do you matter if you save a life?
For a life is but a number.

Representations of my fears -
First aid or pitiful joke?
Sublime art or appalling misery?
Beauty or madness?
Tokens of life or death?
Pointful or pointless?

Does it even matter if it matters?
God doesn't either,
dead or alive,
in dreams or in nightmares,
Unless He makes you laugh.
Does God make you laugh, sometimes?
T J Green Jan 2022
Screaming into the ether,
That’s all I have left.
I cannot be ungrateful,
For the opportunity that is dangling in front of me,
As it has been
For what feels like an eternity.

Time has stopped.
I cannot move forward.
I cannot take new paths.
I cannot build my future.
I am trapped in this bubble of waiting
And I can feel myself aging
As the world around me spins on.

I am hurting.
My darkness rearing its head
For another attempt
On my battle scarred soul.

I am not strong enough,
Not as I stand.
I have spent so much energy
On merely surviving,
And the ongoing torment
Of all the unknowns are weighing,
Far heavier, than I could have anticipated.

I am pained,
But the guilt I feel
By that little voice in my head,
That likes to tell me how good I have it
How fortunate I am,
How selfish and ridiculous I am being.

So I want to hide away
Pretend I’m fine,
I have no right to feel pained,
To feel broken down,
To cry.

I have no right to be hurting,
To feel like I have nowhere to go,
No right to be afraid,
That I’m moments away from becoming
Completely undone.

My illnesses taunt me,
And terrorise me,
So I’m lost and afraid.

I don’t have the words
To express the depth of this
Which scares me the most
As they are my only defence.

My walls are crumbling
The enemy has breached the gate
I’m trying to run
I fear its too late.

I am lost.
Carlo C Gomez Jan 2022
~
Strange how
my feet won't touch
the ground.
Strange how
my bags are packed
with sadness.

Plight is
my fellow passenger
to Osaka sun,
or Artic chill,
or some volcanic
love nest.

Strange how
my jet-setting eyes,
they see paradise only
on satellite tv,
yet they see the once
beautiful people
and all their utter dismay,
as they pass through
the metal detectors.

So strange
that I can hear
their strife
their suffering
well above
the engine's roar.

~
fray narte Jan 2022
I wish to fold my skin and bones small enough
to fit my subtlest sigh
to be held,
in solace,
by all the breaths I've been holding.

Status: Dragged bones to New Year's Eve
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