Human Emotion Poem by Juan Olivarez

Sometimes, words alone are insufficient.
Sometimes the joy is too great,
Or the grief too deep.

Then, a human being becomes
Primal.
Then, a human being, reverts to his raw being,
No covering on the candy,
No fancy clothes, no glittering jewelry,
No makeup on the face.

The base instincts take over,
And such is the joy or the grief,
That mere words are meaningless,
And sometimes even
Unspeakable.

Then, and only then,
Does a smile take over.
Pure sweet laughter, from the very soul,
From the ancient seed,
That makes us human,
But from a divine source.

Or tears, heart wrenching,
And tearing at the soul,
Like a hurricane tears,
At a tropical atoll.
Like a gale tearing at,
Rip tide flag.

Such are human emotions,
When words aren't enough,
We revert, to the primitive.
To the very heart of the equation,
That makes us human.

And therefore,
Closer to the creator, of all things,
On this chunk of space debris,
And far beyond,
Into the infinite.

4/5/2019
Alton, Texas