Arlene Corwin writes

Ought One Bathe In Sorrow?

Ought one bathe in sorrow,

Or let sorrow fade

Without a fading ‘way in sorrow?

Ought one bathe in sorrow

Or let sorrow fade

Transformed to something other?

Smother sorrow

Or coordinate its feelings

Into strength that lies within?

You understand, you reader you,

A needy ego never breaks away

From its own needy skin. 

In sorrow one can reach inchmeal

Brand-new, unfamiliar  skills

Horizons, wisdom, will, 

Cognition,

Intuition

Of the fragile individual condition;

Knowledge that the sun comes up and sets,

Knowing from itself what gets

It going, glowing, showing up for us to use

With gifts that never lose their power,

Showering the donor

And receiver.

Sorrow time is time for seeing; 

For relating in-  to  outer;

Sorrow has a duty

To reshape activity,

See what’s truly

                         there,

The wholeness of it all.

Sorrow time is time to tell

The difference between what you know

From what you don’t until

A time when you are there one (unimagined)  day

When you know all.

Ought one to bathe in sorrow?

No and no and no.

Pool of Sorrow -- Iris Forbes