The Path Of Sympathy, Then Empathy Poem by Dennis Ryan

August 2,2004; revised Sunday evening, March 2,2014 at 10: 15 p.m.

Are we friends; are we truly friends?
This question is composed of a moral substance,
and at times I want to disown this deep-felt sympathy.
But then, life unfolds this strangely beautiful, incongruous tale
of Polonius interrupting a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream
to find his Titania to right all those old wrongs, to bring Ophelia, Laertes,
Hamlet and the old king back to life again.Would it were so and we
the players of this strange tragi-comedy. How strangely beautiful it would be
to experience a modicum of peace and understanding during such strife.
Then imagine this: seeing and feeling differently. Then this: the path of sympathy,
then empathy. Life's tragedies will lead us there if we let them.