My Girl Suffers

My girl suffers, and sometimes goes far away

where I can’t see her pain.

I can only see the sign of her pain

like the tracks of a large animal that has passed by.

I am not a great tracker, but she is my girl.

I do everything to relieve her suffering

but it isn’t enough.  It’s my best.

She always gives her best when I suffer,

and I never know when my pain will leave signs

like a large animal that has passed by.

She is the better tracker, her senses are finer.

That’s what we do for each other,

because we love one another,

even when the love hurts, because the loved one hurts.

My girl suffers too much, but she is so strong;

she bears her pain with dignity and sorrow.

The world suffers and the world’s suffering

makes more pain for my girl to bear,

because that’s who she is: every animal, every tiny bird or mouse,

all the life and death that comes and goes,

my girl knows, feels, deals, for her it is all real.

The world’s suffering is folded into her suffering,

her suffering is  folded into the world’s suffering,

they have ways of being the same pain.

Some people are more expert at pain than others.

My girl is an expert.  She is much stronger than I am.

When I was young I learned to duck, to watch out.

My girl trusts too much, and she doesn’t duck.

I help because I can, because I  duck so fast.

My girl suffers, and sometimes goes far away, far away,

because she must.  I leave the gates, the doors, the bridges open,

so she can find her way back.

I am not strong enough to go where she goes,

but I keep the lights on and the fire burning,

for when she returns, smiling,

playful and childlike, once again.