Helpless

Wanting desperately to help...but I don't know how

 

Helpless

A friend is in pain and I can do nothing

Tears flow of indecision…straining life, staining life

My heart breaks in two…then shatters on the salted dreamscape floor

Coming out of my own skin, ripping the stitches, molting along hollow tree branches

Miles between, so many miles, so much time falls from grace

Breathing is hard, tethered at the moments lost, the suffering imagined

Pacing the floor…finding worn carpet and hidden questions beneath a shallow basement

Wishing the words, those damn words, feeding the solution…would come

Hoping for anything, something, even the tiniest of splintering compassion I can offer

To help ease this weight resting squarely on the shoulders of the weakness that engulfs her

I have no answers, useless, like a block of wood in the offering plate on a Tuesday night

My mind is a vacant lot of empty parking spaces…handicapped and no hang tag

My eyes blur of forced darkness amidst the crowing raven circling overhead

I pound my fist into this meaningless existence breaking every bone of contention

Drowning in my own fear, treading water beneath the surface

Clenching my teeth in a vice like fashion

A friend is in pain and I can do nothing

Helpless

Author's Note

Thank you for reading

Reviews

[Erica]

this is such a deep poem. I can relate. Its so hard watching someone close be in pain and not be able to help. This is such a good poem though, i really like it.

[Jack...]

Thank you so very much Erica

[I Am Svetlana]

It hurts to see the ones closest to us suffer and feeling useless in existence. We can't solve their every problem and pull them back into life, but we can do what we can to help them step by step along the way and lead them in the right direction. The hardest truth to know about suffering is that: we cannot help someone who doesn't want to be helped. It is up to them to make that choice, to hit rock bottom then reach out to others. Just be there for them and help them see the truth of how their pain is affecting you and others around you. Help them see reality and maybe one day, they'll begin to see what you see.

[Eileenws]

Very sad poem, indeed. Good job at getting at the feelings. Congratulations on placing in the contest. Eileen

[Jack...]

Thank you so much Eileen. I truly appreciate your kind words.

[Rita L. Sev]

I had to walk away from this after the first time I read it. This is such bare emotion, your heart poured out in a way different from your romantic heart-pourings. As beautiful as those are, this is the reality of true love - to feel their pain, to aspire to take it way... I have felt this, and am blessed to say that I know others have felt it for me. It matters that you fell this way, Jack - this friend is fortunate in knowing you.

[Jack...]

Thank you so much Rita. Love is much more than just romance, it is everything when someone you care about is involved.

[David Scott]

Empathy... It is a gift. It is a gift to know another feels empathy for us and a gift to be able to feel the pain of others. This same gift cuts the one who would remove the blade of pain as it is not guarded with a handle and is a sharp and penetrating.
I see two friends in pain... Yet like my friends I can and I have done something. We are not helpless Jack nor hopeless. Yes, we feel helpless and I think the write did a great job conveying this point. I felt the condition of your heart and now I urge your heart to allow the conditioning of your art and your mind to ease the pain.
We have our shared experience and our art. We have our spiritual souls unbound by time and space. Now, instead of more and more kind hearts "Helpless" in the sorrow of their kinship, we have a revival of the human spirit.
You did this... with your words. You may need to write another poem to follow, "Not so Helpless". :)
Great heart cry Jack!

[Jack...]

Thanks David, I do understand. In this particular situation my hand were kind of tied...all i could do was be a friend, which I did but I desperately wanted to do more. But without a magic wand, that was impossible. Thanks again.

[David Scott]

Yes, I understand the situation to be as such Jack. Do you really understand Jack?
Your ability to help can never be "tied". Yes, you may not have any "control" of the immediate outcomes or even the final ones... you always have aid to offer. This is a philosophical point to be sure, but one that can change reality if understood fully. Knowing an believing this concept could dispel a great deal of our frustrations even without using the "magic wand".
Jack, even martyrs burning at the stake were not "helpless".
I loved the emotion in the poem because I understand the feeling of helplessness. I even think it is good to get it off our chest when we feel this way. Poetry is wonderful as a medium to unload. I do not think we should ever believe this feeling. Not ever.
I know your point was not to say we are helpless. You just pricked my thoughts is all...

[Jack...]

No problem David and I do understand. I was not helpless I did what I could and I will continue doing what I can. I know just my presence, my words and my concern helped, so helpless I was not. But, to an extent, meaning me and wishing I could come up with the total and complete solution or fix for the situation and knowing that it did not exists allowed the feeling of helplessness to crawl inside of me. It is like this, having a friend who is dying of cancer and standing there saying all the right things but wishing inside I could find the cure for cancer...helpless.

[David Scott]

Thank you for letting me wax philosophical here Jack... My mood. ha.
I think we understand each other well.
Thank you for this lovely poem too. You got the feeling across so well I had to vent about not being helpless... ha.

[Jack...]

I couldn't help myself David, I had to write it. Your are very welcome and I thank you again.

[gabrielle]

The first two lines made readers want to dig deeper...the message is sad yet it revealed how much the voice would want to help or even absorb the pain of a friend but could not do so. structure-wise, i find it so creative that the first-two and the last-two lines are the same. Very touching.

[Jack...]

Thank you so much Gabrielle for your always kind words to me.

[Frieda P]

You very often leave me speechless my sweet friend, but I seriously can't articulate how caring the sentiments in this one are. Suffice to say I'm deeply touched.

[Jack...]

Thank you so much Frieda, the words came straight from my shattered heart.

[Marie]

Lovely form to this, Jack. The first lines evolving into the last two lines...

No matter how deeply we feel for another, we can't share their pain.

[Jack...]

Thanks Marie. I appreciate it.

[Frieda P]

Marie, did you know that Jack thinks we're the same person?

[Marie]

No; I did not know that. Does he really?

[Frieda P]

Yes he does really, must be our snarky attitude Marie.

[Jack...]

Define snarky

[Frieda P]

Gorgeous, intelligent, full of moxy! ;-)

[Jack...]

Then yes, you two are one and the same.

[Frieda P]

Lol, I knew you'd agree....

[Marie]

In my case it means flippant and sarcastic.

[Frieda P]

Same difference Marie, don't argue with me, since I'm you, you'll make us look crazy...

[rhythm&blues]

Sad and beautiful at the same time.

[Jack...]

Thank you very much

[Mark]

I like how you repeated the first lines reversed in the last lines. It added a punch to this fine poem about frustration and that sense of despair at not being to help a friend. Having had long distance, online relationships for quite a few years now, I really identify with the emotion and I think you have penned it here very well.

[Jack...]

Thanks so much Mark.