'To be or not to be, that is the question?' Shakespeare


Pain is a Double-edged Sword

When you talk about your pain,
You invariably re-live the pain:
When it is down in black n' white,
On a paper smooth and bright,
You perpetuate the pain again,
You recite it again and again,
Keep reviving it without gain.

'Till the pain loses its freshness
'Till the wound is raw no more
And like all chronic ailments
Its edges are no longer frayed-
Dull ache replaces the throbbing pain
The sting from it is taken away...

But the sore always remains-
Albeit not so intense anymore-
And you keep licking the wound
Never ending, never healing,
'Till you begin to enjoy the feeling-
a kind of masochism seeps in-
and begins to erode your soul...

And yet, to begin with, you must
Express yourself; exorcise yourself,
To get the load off your chest,
In order not to be stifled by it!

And thus the dilemma remains:
To express, or not to express the pain?

Either way:
Pain is a double-edged sword-
Express it or suppress it-
It cuts both ways...
Deep into the heart and soul...

How to rise above the pain,
How to overcome the pain?
Are the questions that always remain...
Haunt you without a gain!

In this perpetual tug-o-war
Between the heart and the brain.
Who will eventually win the game?
Is a question that remains
to be seen...



Author: Zoya Zaidi
Aligarh (UP), India
Copyright ©: Zoya Zaidi

Image: Death Valley, California National Park



Poetry by Zoya Zaidi
Read 952 times
Written on 2007-04-14 at 20:03

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Stan Cooper The PoetBay support member heart!
Zoya....you are a fine poet, but better still, a thinking philosopher

Stan
2007-04-16


lastromantichero The PoetBay support member heart!
Zoya
this is a very profound examination and so skillful in its presentation well done rgds mike
2007-04-15


Rob Graber
Oops! My comment did the poem an injustice in that I forgot to include the phrase, "as the poem goes on to say"! Sorry, Zoya!
2007-04-14


Rob Graber
I first misread line 2 as saying not "re-live" but "relieve"! And yet a degree of relief can come through the reliving, can't it? I'm surprised I don't know of a psychoanlytic aphorism such as: "No relieving without reliving"... It should be on a tee-shirt, no?! Interesting write, Doctor!
2007-04-14


Zoya Zaidi
Who is trying to avoid pain?
Here the question is of expressing the pain! Talking about pain! And pain of course here is not physical but spiritual pain of the heart and soul!
When you talk of pain, you expose your self; you become vulnerable...
((Hugs for the nice response Gopi)))
Love, Zoya
2007-04-14


Gopi
Thoughtful. Neither 'to be' nor 'not to be' is a question. The real question is the sum of the both. Pain is necessary but not sufficient condition for pleasure.Better not try to avoid the unavoidable.
2007-04-14