Burdens Poem by Seamus O' Brian

The leaves sway quietly today
As if to anticipate the weight
Of the burden whose ragged tethers
Tear furrows across the surface
Of my mind. The burden of
The carnage of living hauled
Behind me like some massive sack
Banging rudely about, knocking awry
The particularly arranged knick-knacks
Of everyone else's well-ordered lives.
But, no, I must go barging through life
Splintering the hedgerows, Caroming
Through the barricades, showering
Fragments of shattered dreams about
Spraying clods of once-good intentions
Into the shocked faces of well-wishing neighbors
And suspiciously nosy,
yet unconvincingly concerned
family and friends.
And still my burden, like some black hole
Of misery, sucks up all the debris and detritus
Of this spasmodic adventure
I once called life—
It's not the weight of the world,
It's the weight of my world
And I'll lean it against this tree
For a spell and watch the branches
Wave, and listen to the whisper
As the leaves softly pray.
And I'll just rest here,
perhaps a bit longer.