The Sand Hill Review               http://www.sandhillreview.org 2009

This Suffering

for Kate McCavitt

“Life is suffering.” – 1^st Noble Truth, Buddhist Teaching

we cannot wake unconscious

into this dream

of a life

we issue into the world

from this sanguine eye

this bodily tempest

this glass-filled canal

this landscape of rending

this ineluctable force of submission

to this we contribute our own

layers of suffering

to elicit our birthright

this unquenchable flame in the blood

this light-filled existence

this stunning wreckage of bones

Meg Withers