Sullen,
He browsed through the stacks
of the library of all of the world’s tragedies.
Catalogued and easy to find.
None of the volumes dusty.
All having been used,
checked out,
returned
and used again, recently.
He,
granted a rare opportunity
to return the unique book of his own life’s ordeal
exchange it for any one of the other stories
before the ending for his life’s incident had played out.
The quiet today seemed eerie
even for a library – foreboding –
as if the books themselves
agonized over the sagas portrayed –
Pestilence
Ungodly death
Disease
War
Famine
Torture
Rape
Anguished cries
Chaos imposed by humans
Chaos spread by nature –
earthquake, fire, flood.
Agonies of unique personal consequence:
Stillbirth
Alcoholism
Drug addition
Birth defect
Death of a child
Car accident
Loss of sight or sense or limb
Or of all common sense
Death by childbirth
Dementia
Alzheimer’s
One eye
One leg
Stump of an arm
Each life plus one trial –
Each life minus one blessing.
From these he could make his choice
exchange his present torment for any other.
He turned and left with the book he carried in.
The one with which he was most familiar.
Ray Brown
