What are you saying? That I lack compassion?
Suggesting I walk a mile in someone else’s shoes?
No way, my friend, you’re asking too much of me.
It’s psychic energy I lack, not empathy.
I have woes of my own to worry about.
Truth be told, I’m probably too old.
It’s difficult enough to walk a mile
in my own shoes, let alone in
shoes that don’t fit.
I’m not unsympathetic, but
what if I lost my balance and stumbled
as I tried to stride forward.
Why I could break a bone. Besides,
how do I know I wouldn’t get stuck
wearing a pair of oversized snowshoes
in a blizzard? Just my luck.
I’d have trouble walking two feet
under such extreme conditions.
Yes, friend, the pun was intended.
Sometimes levity is called for when
it’s a matter of life and death.
You have a habit of weighing me down
with heavy conundrums. I understand
where you’re coming from.
You want me to act like a Good Samaritan,
but, for Heaven’s sake, my whole body aches
at the thought of assuming another person’s
burden. In addition to wearing their shoes,
do you expect me to carry their backpack?
And, you haven’t even handed me a roadmap.
Shouldn’t a map be part of the bargain?
Or do you expect me to intuit
the right road to travel,
the correct path to take
to avoid dead ends
and detours,
circumvent
torn-up surfaces,
straddle hurdles
and other obstacles
that I might encounter
as I walk a mile
in someone else’s shoes.
What if they were flip-flops?
Too tall an order, my friend.
I doubt that my poor feet could stand it.
lives in NYC and has a professional background in theater and photography. She has attended workshops with poets Jeanne Marie Beaumont, Scott Hightower, and Jessica Greenbaum, and is currently participating in a virtual workshop with Paris-based Gracie Bialecki. She is also a member of The Yorkville Writing Circle. Recent publication credits include poems in Griffel, High Shelf Press, The Rose in the World, and in two anthologies published by Moonstone Arts Press. One of her poems was included in a recent theatrical presentation, “Superheroes & Other Men.”
