To my friend Enrique Martinez with gratitude for the beautiful conversation
It lives in her mouth
It tastes strange when she talks
When she talks of pain
She makes it hypothetical
Philosophical
Profound
She says pain is the path
To salvation and enlightenment
She says pain is the thread
That connects the searching souls
She says pain is the steam
Opening the pores on the thickest of skins
She says pain
Is the hook on the rail car of life
Taking us places we've never been
Places not reachable in any other way
Like the true depths of meaning
Like the real breathlessness of discovery
Like the Pure Selfless Love
The only Love
Left to us after every other love dies
After we ourselves die
She says
Pain
Makes souls resonate to the beauty
That all of a sudden becomes perceptible
That used to knock on ears heretofore deaf
That used to shine on eyes heretofore blind
She says pain is the hormone
Released to initiate the search
For invincibility and strength
She says pain is the road map to self-reflection
She says many other things
Equally wise
She even looks smart saying them
And then the night comes
When pain knocks on her door
Wanting to be remembered
Saying here I am talk about me now
And then there is nothing
Nothing
To say
At all