St. Maybe

With so much suffering in the world

one must find the consolations of

beauty and love, a reason to keep

going, the courage to shine like a sun

and dispel the darkness, but not with-

out struggling and, strangely enough,

suffering.  Maybe it is enough to be a

candle, a sputtering flame of whatever

kind.  Oh God, why is it so hard to do 

what is to be done, to be what one is

to be?  Hope.  Despair.  A saint, maybe? 

***