the others' world, and our own narrow path

empathy, the downside

empathy wonderfully enlarges my sense of self,

and connects my loneliness to a oneness with others,

empathy also can enlarge my anxiousness,

as others’ sorrows swallow my sureness,

and I lose the grounding of my footing as I move forward,

I feel a slipping, a slipping back and down, and away,

sharp is the edge, narrow the path,

where there is an ennobling sureness of my own way,

enough sureness to allow the buffeting

when I leap away into another’s world,

onto their sharp edge for a short time,

I work to have the wherewithal to get home,

back to my own path,

with the other still with me,

but a part, not the whole, of who I am.

by Henry H. Walker
September 10-11, ‘18