The Burden

We haunt ourselves

smiling in pictures clearly

sharper than the eye 

can pinch the screen to see 

that smile’s a scowl.

They are stronger than us

and more themselves, and free

in that they’re unburdened

with having to live. 

No, they already were.

It’s over. They cannot be

argued with, undone.

Worst of all, they know this

about themselves.

What are they looking at? 

Not you, unless you are

the dark of the lens. 

Why should they want to be

shown this way, standing 

waving in a wilderness

without provision?

To say: I am content

in this moment belonging 

to no one who's not me.

So the burden isn’t

what we know

they didn’t.

It’s all they won’t

let us forget.