Abcessive

You suffer and you correlate
With the suffering of others.
This bond’s been indissoluble

In practice, despite the rumors
Of prophets, god-men, and sages
Who were said to have transcended

The inevitable before
Vanishing. Words ought to observe
The suffering since, in their names.

You correlate your suffering
With certain kinds of behaviors
Which you attempt to shed like clothes,

But stepping out of your own skin
Neither comes naturally nor ends
The suffering. If anything,

Sometimes fresh suffering begins.
You correlate your sufferings
Then with certain kinds of others.

Maybe you can put it on them,
Or maybe take it off of you
By also taking it off them.

Every strategy’s attempted
Somewhere in some life by someone,
And still there’s human suffering,

Humans living with suffering,
Humans intending suffering,
Suffering accidentally.

You believe that finding the source
Would come nigh to exorcism,
Shutting down an alarm system,

But the presence of suffering
Has no source other than absence,
And what ends a source that isn’t?