how can you hurt so much?

you are thin -- just a
blade of grass in the wind -- bending
to let this broken world
not break you as it spins.

you are dry -- just a wisp
of white in the blue bowl of sky --
but you hold all the rains
behind your eyes.

how can you hurt so much?
how can you bear the world
on such shoulders?

when i hold you
you hum like bees:
the queen gone, the hive
is too busy to grieve.

your nervous system sings
like wings about to leave.
you forget to eat.
you sometimes forget to breathe.

how can you hurt so much?
how can you wait so long for love?
how can so little serve as just enough?