We become what we choose

The sum of all suffering

I cannot close my eyes to the suffering in the world.
The cross of compassion compels my heart toward
the simple and the sick, to the lost and the lonely. 
The sum of all pain worries my weary soul and wears
away my innocent resolve to the edge of knowing.

When I hold my well-fed child, the cries of other
children, hungry and alone, a thousand miles away,
call out in raw voices that forever claw at my ears.
Their hunger opens the warehouse of my conscience,
but their pleas for prayers and penance are lost.

When I lay my head on a gathering of cushions,
my thoughts do not rest. My reverie is tormented by
visions of those weary souls who end on the streets.
I see their tattered ghosts, their sad imploring eyes.
But they fade gray away as I reach to comfort them.

There are times we must all suffer the trials of life,
 when fear and despair undermine our confidence.
There are questions and regrets that scornfully hang
over our heads, unresolved.  Not forgotten, but lost
in the cataract of confusion that claims us all.

© Chris Ernest Nelson 2026

If we are…

End of days

Everyone is born to live.

Everyone is born to Live.
Sadly, some choose death,
and die every day of their lives.
That choice is essential to exercise
the blessing of consciousness:
Free-Will.

But the death they choose is a little
death that passes when the Gates
of Paradise open to receive them…
along with every other living soul.
There is only one outcome
to the Act of Creation:

Perfection in Bliss.
Even as the Body experiences
entropy and death, the
Spirit is perfected in Eternal Life.
The Spirit enters into it the
way a river flows into the sea.

Yes, the mortal body,
and its persistent illusions,
will die in Time and Space.
But the Spirit remains forever
Alive in the sublime syntropy
of Absolute LOVE.

© Chris Ernest Nelson 2026