Deixis

Any severe-enough pain
Is catastrophic; any
Catastrophe comes to pain,

And both are so demanding,
Shrinking your world to themselves.
In wars, disasters, dying,

Or nearly, or all at once,
The last shredded flags of thought
Are screaming for attention—

Pain’s the only world that is.
There is no meaning outside
Of this suffering, this war.

To think of anything else
Is almost a betrayal,
When that’s even possible.