A Glimpse of Starlight

the pretension of pain
as if you are the first
across the millennia
the only, the ultimate
among the billions

the pretension of pain
as if all the oceans 
don't shame your tears
all the thunderstorms
weaker than your woes

the pretension of pain
as if it will destroy you
as if it will lift you up
to a sorrowing and craggy height
above the happy, foolish masses

as if it doesn't buckle your knees
      spittle your face
      mottle your skin
      stench your breath
as if it makes you respectable
      instead of repulsive

the pretension of pain
as if people care to hear
as if pity equals love
as if agony unites 
instead of separating 
      sufferers 
      into tiny,
      black cells

they say every lie
has a grain of truth
if so this is the speck
at the center of your
pretensions: against
all wisdom, all expectation,
all aesthetics, all attraction—

the brokenhearted
      will be lifted up
the brokenbodied
      healed
the broken
      dignified
      as incarnations
      of the promise:
      in your weakness
      you are strong

the beauty wrought from pain
cannot be pretended