This I Believe: A Delta Manifesto

I believe
your suffering
is as real as mine,
and mine as yours.

Please be clear
in this distinction:
the suffering of which I speak
is not
the romantics'
tuberculosis, not the
absinthe laden or demon
stricken, syphilitic Paris
of the 1930's.
(Although, it should be noted
that if you had
either
or both
tuberculosis or syphilis
in the 1930's
I do not intend
to minimize your suffering.)
I mean simply to say
the suffering that quiets the
wild abandonment
of
your
true
essence.

I believe your suffering
is as real as mine, and
like love as an action verb
or struggle
wound
or pause-
in pursuit of dignity-
connectedness-
your suffering is
the most humane thing
you can do for me
and I, you.