When you twitch and twirl in flames of grief <br />Do you have the mood to douse another's heat? <br /> <br />When there is a chronic wound that never heals <br />Can you attempt to glue up another's slivered heart? <br /> <br />When you slither like a snake as on a polished floor <br />Do you dare to support another to rise to his feet? <br /> <br />When you stifle your sighs in the throat <br />Can you urge someone to smile and laugh? <br /> <br />When thoroughly defeated of your own hopes <br />Can you exhort others to dream great dreams? <br /> <br />When a thunderbolt strikes your clear sky <br />Can you sing of clouds trailing in the blue? <br /> <br />When blinded with the mist of woes <br />Can you enjoy the song of falling rain? <br /> <br />When dead worlds of pathos wake in your life <br />Can you advise someone to bury his past? <br /> <br />When you hear the startling whispers of death <br />Can you preach on the art of joyful living? <br /> <br /> <br />Alas! We are fated to wage a perennial war <br />Between our emotions real and what we put on <br /> <br />When can we dispense with this feigning? <br />Is it until we withdraw into Death's lone retreat?<br /><br />Valsa George<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/when-can-we-stop-feigning/
