By My Tears

“This is my program:
Let us all weep.”
–Kenneth Patchen

The world has not wept enough.
Yes, we have cried for reason’s demise
Or reason itself turned cold and cruel
We have wailed for lives cut short,
Or for hearts that beat without spirit,
We have cursed each season upturned,
The death of leaves, the fall of mountains –
Why do our species define
history and peace as contradictions?
With righteous anger,
We tremble at injustice, and yet
We summon wars as much as we train heroes.
We are relentless, without limits
Like a catastrophe
And we punish ourselves for this terrible,
Implacable destiny.

We torture ourselves for conjuring destinies
That destroy those who seek them.

But we have not wept enough.
The night’s disquiet is more piercing than our mourning.
Suffering is still greater than our sadness.

So, I propose:
Let us weep until we cannot.

Let us weep so hard
that we cannot turn our back to the other
without touching, without sharing,
without being shaken by our capacity for despair.

Let us take pride in our weeping,
And weave these tears into our skin,
That laughter becomes a memory,
And happiness a dream.
Maybe then,
We shall call destiny, hope.
Love, our evolution.

I shall begin with myself.
By my tears, my love shall know me.