Take Two Aspirins In Water. Poem by smee steve

</>He had a headache and she wanted to find his soul
She wanted to find his soul and quantify it in her American way
To measure it and mark its boundaries
Why?
To draw up legal papers so that it could be owned?
But he already owned it
He had owned it always and forever it had been near him
It was his
His soul troubled him but the headache bothered him more
He couldn’t take an aspirin for his soul - he lived with the obscure hurt
The ache within his soul he had become familiar with
It reminded him of his existence and the frailty of humanity
The headache was a new pain – and he hadn’t learned how to ignore it
He could ignore his soul – it was his and was always there
He didn’t need to make sure where it was
He could function quite well and be sure his soul was with him
He knew the headache was there – and he desperately wanted it to leave him
He knew from childhood and bible stuff that a soul could be sold
She had told him that a soul already had been weighed
How -
Some celestial scales or a set near a butcher’s slab
Did his soul contain the guilt he felt?
Was his soul the conscience he tried sometimes to deny he had?
Did his soul follow him or did he lead his soul in the troughs he experienced
And drag it up and over the peaks that poked up through the puddle that was him
His soul weighed heavy on his life and greyed out the brightness sometimes
Sometimes his soul smiled like sunshine on a summer’s day
Those days his mouth smiled so wide he thought his face would split
The corners of his mouth hurt as his skin tried desperately not to tear
Happiness was better than sadness – and his soul gave him choice


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