Written piece
Burden
Mimi Machakaire
Lesotho
About this piece
My poem is about how we often as humans carry the burdens of other people's pain while we have our own pain to bear, which usually gets ignored because we're always told that someone else has it worse but we are allowed to feel our pain, no matter how small it is.
The life we live,
Chasing dream after dream
Trampling on our feet
Running through the forest,
We carry what we don't know,
The weight of others pain.
Vs, the weight of our own.
Our own pain seems less,
While others seems heavy.
I cannot cry for my own suffering
Yet I have to cry for someone.
The life we live,
We chase an impossible dream.
Endless until death.
But what does it all mean?
What does life after death tell us?
We carry a heavy pain,
In our hearts everyday.
I cannot cry for my own pain.
But I'm expected to cry for someone.
Why cry for someone's hurt, while I bleed in silence?
My heart is sore yet not one cares.
My heart bleeds for the things I've lost
For the things that were stolen,
For the past that feels broken,
For the delays, failures, illnesses and death that is promised.
I cannot cry for my own pain.
There's a weight no one wants to carry.
I cry in silence and smile out loud.