Sufferings Can Be of Different Kinds

SUFFERINGS CAN BE OF DIFFERENT KINDS

Pia
From Sienna,
A Georgia farm made me,
Tampa unmade me.

It was the half moons from Minarets
That became
The arrows in my side,
And I sympathized the myth of St. Sebastain
That he felt no pain..
But I felt real pain, not smiling like
St. Sebastain,
And I, a poet, will not have a ceremony
That grants a stipend or sainthood,
And gives a new title to put before my name.

Pia,
I now belong to bolted locks
And bolted curtains.
Outside every window has iron bars,
But the roof leaks, Pia,
The roof leaks.

Pia,
Even centuries ago I was your lover,
And still am.


Duane Locke

Posted over on The Hold