An Open Poem To A World-Weary Empath - John Roedel

[Larry Robinson]

An Open Poem To A World-Weary Empath


you can’t leave Earth yet 

~ because I just flipped ahead about a hundred pages in your story 
and I read that someday you will be the reason 
someone else doesn’t give up on their life 

I’m sorry to spoil the end of your epic tale 

~ but someday you will be the one who ignites 
the blaze in another person’s heart that 
won’t ever be put out again 

don’t complicate the plot of your story 

~ you are here to be a lamplighter that hands out 
little bits of your flame to ensure the rest 
of the world doesn’t exist in darkness 

I know you have been scorched so many times

~ to love the world is to sometimes be burned at the 
the stake by others who mistake your gift
of compassion as a personal weakness 

I know it’s not easy to be a bringer of light
to those who have become addicted to shadows 

~ but we need you to be a gardener of effervescent seeds 
that you will perhaps never see grow into burning rosebushes
that can be seen from space 

Oh, my love, don’t give into the calling despair 

~ set your life on fire with kindness and watch how many
other people come out of their caves to sit by your 
campfire heart to share their own stories of survival
Oh my love, you are my favorite element

	- John Roedel