Life is not as it should be:

Social injustices,

Impending separations,

Mortality.

What can we do

Except say our prayers,

Drink our wine;

Submit to the process,

Play our parts,

Do our time?

I refuse to comply

To the process;

Refuse to accept 

These conditions;

Thus, I suffer gratuitously.

The monks no longer offer me tea.

The priests locked the confession box.

I invite friends to lunch…they never show.

You’d think I’d change my mind,

Rather than wear this cloak of invisibility.

Oh no, I prefer to be in suffering with divinity;

My spirit remains untouched and free

In solitude--solidarity.