One is struck by the fortitude of those
who suffer; in New York, hit by the storm,
faces appear resigned, as if in closure
of the harsh episode; faces set to resume the norm.
It was Christ in Gethsemane who proved
the torment of suffering is in the mind
that anticipates it; or, one is moved
by the sight, as He was, to pity, of lame or blind.
The experience of suffering in large measure
is a construction in the minds of those
who see it in others, something at leisure
uncoiling, to discomfit, to prick the comatose.
For those of the suffering, behind the mask
they witness its power that stirs emotions,
unfailingly, that judges men’s hearts,
the converse to the absence that is their experience.
