Lessons from a Revolution

(for Mila)

My father taught me

this one thing:

that pain knows no

size no breadth.

It understands

no bigger no

smaller no

more no less.

All pain

blinds.

All pain

is intimate.

Have you

felt it?

It is the same

for both women

and men. The rich

feel it as much

as the poor.

Pain: who do you blame

when you feel it?

It has made everyone

the saddest person in the world.