only through

there are those who act as if misery & torment
do not exist in this world,
as if they are somehow immune to the storms,
as if when it rains, it rains
around them---
yet though they may act as such,
behind the curtain lies a knowledge of others
suffering &
the suffering of oneself deep inside
pulsates & echoes
like a person playing steel drums with a
sledgehammer---
but to ignore gives no means of escape,
unless one has found a way to reach into the brain
& tear out all that which is
conscious of the world around themselves.

and though there may be drugs that can relieve the pain
for a while,
it always comes back &
though the cycle of anesthetization will increase,
there is no certain way to keep it up perpetually.

it is the horrible, the terrible, the frightful & the
most difficult,
that needs to be confronted more often---
it needs to be investigated, embraced &
endured,
so that the act of denial will be overrun by a new
way of seeing that only through uncovering all that is
human,
will we ever progress & improve ourselves.