Too Much to Bear
©November 15th, 2017
By Vijaya Sundaram
So many identities criss-cross,
So many selves intersecting
So many pathways to life
And food, and love, and food,
And death!
Too much awareness leads
To a heart bursting at the seams.
All of life beckons, all creatures
Looking for food, for fun, for love.
How can any one person bear it all?
Better to be a snail creeping
Slickly along a garden wall,
Or, a tortoise plodding sagely on
Towards a tasty bit of lettuce.
No thought intrudes upon them,
Save the impulse to feed and breed.
Better to be a black-crowned night heron
Perching placidly on a branch
Gazing at unbearable beauty
Like a Buddha, unperturbed,
Ready to plunge into wetlands
At the approach of dusk,
Ghostly and calm, looking
Straight into the air.
People pierce through me,
Animals slay me.
It’s all too much for one person to bear.
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