Life IS Pain

A shiver of truth in my willow-iron spine

That knows the strength of bending,

Fissures of cold streaking along my arms

“Don’t you know women are made of pain?”

Oh, YES.

Yes, I am made of pains to match my passions,

Have endured earth shattering assaults

Have recast my heart’s stardust particles

And found the similarities between earth and heart

And the world within a person.

Oh, yes, I am a creature of agony

And no wonder I am fearsome

For I have survived

Though I have longed to scream

To melt into nothing under the force

Of my griefs, I stand,

And

Over all the perils I have come

And I am more than all my scars

Through which I bleed light

And

I am ready for future pains.

Oh, yes, I know women are made of pain.