There Will Be Suffering

I told her the story 

of my pain,

complained profoundly

and with great enthusiasm

like venting would solve something

(it won't),

I insisted she know

it wasn't as simple

as all that,

she was only half-listening,

it was not what she wanted to hear

as she had other things in mind

that would solve 

my pain and hers,

but she did say

"of course there will be suffering,

but every junior novice Buddha knows 

that it is the turning 

of suffering into beauty

that is the key",

once I heard that

I was the one half-listening

to her story and plans

and was not interested 

in the other things 

she had to say or offer,

I selfishly took what I needed,

turn suffering into beauty

and that's why she was there,

to deliver the message

I needed to hear:

question not the suffering,

produce more beauty.

Ken Owen   Van Niddy Press   March 2014