After Pessoa

 

for Daleth Hall

 

How absurd is it that what hurts the most

   Is our regret for what does not exist.

We yearn not for the real, but for the ghost

   Of what was real—for what we lost or missed.

We long for things impossible, because

   They are impossible—which feeds our hunger;

We feel nostalgia for what never was,

   Reproach for what we never did while younger,

Desire for some great love that might have been,

   Self-pity because we’re not someone else,

And discontent with all that’s genuine—

   Like hating stone because it never melts.

      So does this baseless yearning make us feel

      Pain, entertaining what was never real.

 

Copyright 2014 Matthew J Wells