The thousand natural shocks that flesh
is heir to
are there to
remind you
you’re alive
every cut
and every kiss
says you’re real
and you exist
This dappled world we’re living in
this tender box
of bone
and skin
every cut
and every kiss
says you’re real
and you exist
by Richard W. Bray
Abuse and sting and mock and shame
Afflicting torment like a game
Find a person you can break
And feed the universal ache
Careless quips and mutilations
Stabs and wounds and lacerations
Snubs and swipes and small offenses
Brutal taunts that stun the senses
Tell yourself that you are brave
Or moan you’re just a cosmic slave
Who only does what others do
Attacking all who damage you
Maybe that’s just what we are
Scorpions inside a jar
Or maybe you use poison darts
To build a cage around your heart
by Richard W. Bray
A time there was – as one may guess
And as, indeed, earth’s testimonies tell –
Before the birth of consciousness,
When all went well.
—Thomas Hardy, Before Life and After
Existence is a wound
That heals when you die
We can’t extinguish hurt
We can only try
You won’t earn any points
For trying to be nice
The cosmos doesn’t care
What we do with life
Everything we ever do
Is gonna fade away
The thing that really matters
Is how we act today
by Richard W. Bray
Monitor the voice inside your brain
Don’t scamper and pretend it isn’t there
The one that says there isn’t any pain
Listen for your truth and don’t campaign
Focus on yourself and don’t compare
Monitor the voice inside your brain
The voice that tries to keep a body sane
The voice that keeps repeating, “I don’t care”
The one that says there isn’t any pain
Repeat, repeat, repeat a lie in vain
Anesthetize against the truths that scare
Or monitor the voice inside your brain
Live your hurt and don’t deny the rain
Analyze your thoughts ever aware
Of the one that says there isn’t any pain
Release your mind and jettison your chains
A universe awaits you if you dare
To monitor the voice inside your brain
The one that says there isn’t any pain
by Richard W. Bray
If you drink your life to crud
Till you’re crawling in the mud
And puking pints of blood
If you gamble on the ponies
Till you’re sickly and you’re bony
And your kids eat macaroni
I’m sorry for your trauma
If you’re dusting up the drama
With a dozen baby mamas
It really ain’t my gain
If your life fills up with pain
Until you think you’ll go insane
Your problems
Ain’t my issue
Though I’ll support you
And I wish you
All the best
But I won’t waste
Precious time
Fixating on your
Your sins and crimes
I’ll just stay thankful
For the ways
My life is blessed
by Richard W. Bray
Been hived and herded
Doused and dirted
Desecrated
And deserted
Life is an ocean
Of misery and woe
Love is a notion
I’m fortunate to know
Been punched and prodded
Nailed and knotted
Fiends who plotted
Stomped and swatted
Life is an ocean
Of misery and woe
Love is a notion
I’m fortunate to know
Been kicked and slandered
Dumped and dandered
Pitched and pandered
Without candor
Life is an ocean
Of misery and woe
Love is a notion
I’m fortunate to know
by Richard W. Bray
I had no time to hate, because
The grave would hinder me,
And life was not so ample I
Could finish enmity
—Emily Dickinson
You can hate away your days
Disparaging the ways
Of the wicked
You can while away your time
Pondering the crimes
Of the sickest
You can multiply your spite
But it won’t make nothing right
For the wretched
And your dreams of retribution
Only cultivate pollution
In your heart
You might find more success
Fighting hate with tenderness
And compassion
Plant a flower in your heart
It’s the perfect place to start
Your garden
Hope will be our only tool
Let’s all be crazy fools
For love
by Richard W. Bray
Once there was a heart I broke;
And that, I think, is worse.
The ones who never noticed
The ones who had to go
The ones who came to see me
The ones who didn’t show
Got a gut full of girlhurt
Keeping me awake
Playing back my memories
Reliving realms of ache
The ones I never talked to
The times I chickened out
All the love I missed
By wallowing in doubt
Got a gut full of girlhurt
Keeping me awake
Playing back my memories
Reliving realms of ache
The ones that I ignored
The things I didn’t say
The love I didn’t appreciate
The times I walked away
Got a gut full of girlhurt
Keeping me awake
Playing back my memories
Reliving realms of ache
by Richard W. Bray
Indeed, the truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering, the more you suffer, because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you, in proportion to your fear of being hurt. The one who does most to avoid suffering is, in the end, the one who suffers the most: and his suffering comes to him from things so little and so trivial that one can say that it is no longer objective at all. It is his own existence, his own being, that is at once the subject and the source of his pain, and his very existence and consciousness is his greatest torture.
—Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain (H/T–Andrew Sullivan)
Live your hurt
It’s where you are
It’s riding shotgun
In your car
Live your hurt
Day by day
You can’t pretend
Your hurt away
Love your hurt
And pay respect
To the way
That we connect
Stare at hurt
Like a mirror
You’ll never see
Your conscience clearer
Praise your hurt
With every breath
The only other
Choice is death
by Richard W. Bray
There may be trouble ahead
But while there’s moonlight
And music and love and romance
Let’s face the music and dance
—Irving Berlin
Pain is never far away
Enjoy it when it’s not around
And when a new wave
Comes your way
Do not linger
In its wake
Dive right in
Or ride it out
Flesh and Pain are
Child and Mother
You don’t get one
Without the other
by Richard W. Bray
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