[the Writing of Kuypers]
when you have to watch death regularly
it’s hard, you know
i’ve been told
logically
as cruel as that sounds
when you have to think of what you have to go through
when you are in battle, even in practice
you are in battle
because even when you practice for battle
you have to remember
remembering that quells the internal struggle
that makes it easier to do what you have to do
you keep seeing their face
what you’ll have to go through
really, you have to stop being so emotional
that’s what you have to keep telling yourself
it isn’t fun
and i know it’ll be hard
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[JanetKuypers.com]
[Bio]
[Poems]
[Prose]
hurt less then
Janet Kuypers
05/10/10, edited 05/11/10
when you have to see it happening
when you have to adjust yourself
to this living thing not being around any longer
well, that’s when you have to
find a way to get around it
when you have to separate yourself
from the details of death
turning yourself off like that
turning yourself off to death
but you have to
it will hurt less then
that when you see someone
whose life has to end
well,
then you have to look at it
you have to think
that even if this is someone you love
you have to remember that this is life in general:
it starts, there’s growth, then conflict, often trauma
culminating in death
face the facts
that’s the way it goes
think of it as a boxing match
think of when you have to
practice for a violent battle
even if it’s just practice
and in practice you’re battling a friend
the one against you is no longer your friend
and you have to fight them
like they’re your worst enemy
you cannot think they’re your friend,
you cannot think that you cannot hurt them
and you know you’re on the right side
you’re in battle
all of the things you hate about them
all of the things that are wrong with them
for days before this battle they face
you know it’s right
you know what you’ll have to put them through
even though it ends with their death
this isn’t what you should have to go through
turning yourself off like that
turning yourself off to death
but you have to
they say it’ll hurt less then
Copyright © 2010 Janet Kuypers.
may be reprinted without express permission.