I'm full of speculation
on any topic under our sun
for which I'm not fully
edified or apprised and
you're no exception
I can feel you in moments and
I can tell that pain you harbor
you don't pass on as so many do
making pain stop at you
is hard to do and
you do it with grace
it is a mix of
the energy from the
parts where life broke you
and the places where
you wouldn't let it
that creates the best
I've seen in you
The mother
The writer
The sufferer
The clown
The soldier
something inside you knows pain
far too well and too much
for one mind
it is rooted in you and
grew into the familiar
what the mind may do
with what's familiar
can be beautiful and
it can be insidious
maybe you are let down
by a life populated
by automatons
that don't know
what it's like to wait
for the pain
that may finally
break or change them

Nearly all human
structural elements
around our most vital
parts are designed
to collapse and
fold as much as possible
protect at all costs
the brain and so
the skull and
facial structure are
designed to collapse
the ribs the pelvis and
its ischial crests
the scapula and
all the minute
carpal and tarsal
fragmental bones of
the hands and feet
the knees men take too
we are designed to
crumple at all costs
I think about that when
I consider the beauty of
endurance and
the kind of pain that
crumples you
in places
no one will ever see