VISION

There have been times when I have looked at life
From out the eyes of sorrow, and have felt
The utter loneliness of black night vigils.
There have been times when I have wept hot tears
And tasted of their salt
And drunk the dregs of sadness to the end.

There have been times--and then another's heartache,
So deep and rending as to mock my own,
Has cut, flamelike, across my blurring vision,
Dwarfing my paltry tragedies to nought.
                                         --Elizabeth N. Hauer