June 2020 – Realizing Empathy

When “Wrong” Expires

When a decision
leads to something
“bad,”
we call it
“wrong.”

Until the same decision
leads to something
“good.”

Then
we call it
the “best.”

To notice our greed
…
we can make
a strict promise
on exactly when it is
we will feel like
it’s enough,
then watch ourselves
break
that promise.

“Why didn’t you
tell me?”
I asked.

“I didn’t want
to be a burden.”
she responded.

…

“But what if
you had died?”
was the question
I never asked.

“Have you ever thought
about the guilt
that I would have had
to live with?”
was the resentment
I never expressed.

“In your desire
to be a good mother
you could have made me
a bad son.”
was the blow
I never threw.

…

“You’re not my mother
because you’re not
a burden.”
was the acknowledgment
I never made.

“You’re my mother
because you are.”
was the tear
I never shed.

“I love you.”
was the honesty
I never expressed.

One way
we can realize empathy
with what we previously could not
is to search
for a metaphor.

If “I would not do
what they did
if I were in their situation,”
signals
an absence
of a metaphor.

Then “In what situation
would I do
what they did?”
signals
a search
for a metaphor.