Heart of Glass

They say I am strong;
That my heart's pillars
Hold others up,
And that they are strong enough
To bear the weight
Of others' burdens.

But I am not strong.
Pillars that support me
Crumble slowly
As I give everything away
To any who ask.

They say that I am good,
A friend who can be told anything,
But my heart cries
From all the pain its heard.

The sad stories of others
Fill my heart to the brim.
And no matter how hard I try,
Their pain won't go away...
Why can't I make it go away?

I can't stand the suffering of others.
I wish I could rip it away,
And destroy it...
But I can't.

Their sadness is mine.
My happiness gone until theirs returns.
God, why?
Why can't I stop their pain?
I can feel it, and I want it to stop.
Let their pain pour into me...
I can take that.
But I can't take the pain of seeing others
When they're hurting.

That is what hurts me.
It hurts me more than anything.

You see, I try,
Oh, how I try,
To make my heart numb
To other kinds of pain.

Now, all I try to do,
Is take their suffering
And make it mine.

If I could, I'd take on cancer.
I'd take on Crohn's Disease.
I'd take on arthritis.
I'd take on all of human pains
And make them my own.

It isn't because I like pain
That I want theirs to be mine.

But you see...
Their heartache
Is my heartache.
Their sorrow
Is my sorrow.
Their tears
Are my tears.
And I would rather
Feel the pain alone
Than see others
Feel it too.

If I could,
I'd rip pain from the world.
All of it.
And I'd take on that pain,
Make it my own,
So that others
Could be free.

My heart is not steel,
Though my words may
make it seem that way.

My heart may seem strong,
like steel,
And that is why it looks like
I want to take this pain
Into myself.

But the truth...
The truth is that
My heart is...
Weak,
And not like steel.

It cannot bear to see
All this suffering surrounding me,
So it, in its weakness,
Yearns to take it away
So that it cannot see
Others in this pain.
It is weak like glass.

My heart of glass
Can't take
These sights.

The glass threatens
To shatter,
When my heart sees that pain.

And each time I see someone
Who feels pain,
Another fracture appears
In the glass

I wait for the day
When my heart of glass
Shatters
From all the cracks
That others' sorrow
Have put in it.

But I do not mind.
Because as long as I have
This heart of glass,
I'll be happy to take
What pain I can.

Even if not on a large level.

For my heart of glass
Yearns to change
The world,
This world of pain,
into one of less,
Even if its only a single city.

Then, my breaking heart of glass
Will be satisfied for a moment,
Until the pain from somewhere else
Hits it.