Eeyore

Reading Google News with only one eye
   I find myself unable to take it all in
These current events, as we used to call them
   When I was in elementary school
I would cut a story carefully from the local newspaper
   My fingers getting dirty from the newsprint

The sadness in the world overwhelms me
    I find myself taking it on, as the things that happen to other people
Seem to invade the world I live in
    And touch the people I love
I find my hands once again covered
    With the dark, inky-ness and sadness

No more sad stories, I shout silently
    To the universe, but only hear my words echo
I think of how much I can do and how little I can do
    And of how important my contribution is
And how it hardly seems to make a dent
    And changes nothing and changes everything

She sits at the table, twisting the paper from her drinking straw
    And tells me in that odd monotone we take on
When we speak of our pain, of how she was hurt
    And my stomach sinks, and the tear comes in my eye
And I wonder why she wants to tell me this
    Isn't there someone else who can hear this?

How do I make my way in this world
    And make a difference and be a help
Without taking on the sadness of all the others
    And making it my own?
I listen to her with only one ear
    For I can't hear it all; only some of it

My being sad will not make her sadness go away
    For tragedy is not transferrable
And I do not want to be a beast of sad burdens
    Which makes me think of the donkey Eeyore
And in spite of all the sadness in the world, I laugh

Susan