I Cannot Feel

3/19/2025

When I envision myself, it is with a pane of glass between me and the world.

When I conceive of divinity as it exists for myself, it is a voiceless being.
Who commands respect through its visage alone.
Whose thoughts are unknowable.

When I consider the suffering and cares of the people around me,
I imagine bringing such things in front of that unknowable God,
and how even if it understood it would have no pity
or offer anything beyond its sterile gaze.

And I think that of myself-
A mere observer
containing a multitude which is solely mine.
The center of me exists beyond it all, in a place outside the world.

I see, I hear.
I cannot feel.
I love only the hands that bring me their worries.
The worries I cannot feel.
I love only the eyes that beg me to stand.
The pleading I cannot feel.