Right to Recompense

28 February 2008, 10:06 AM

The howling cry continues as I realize
that Paradise contains a measure of Hell,
and I cannot have what is goodness and light—
all that might have been the right,
given another set of circumstances,
a lesser set of needs— save I grant
that some darknesses must always remain.

My God, the raw and bleeding wound
that never ceases screaming for want
of the one thing I will never have,
the one thing I cannot give
to the ones who bear no culpability
and every right to recompense.