Trauma

 You learn to live
 with sterile dreams;
 bucolic landscapes
 where you'd hardly notice
 the silence unless you'd
 expected birds and cows.

 You learn there's always
 someone more damaged;
 so many pastorals
 in search of a shepherd.

 You learn that mostly
 you're ok; so many of us
 survive without hope.

 There's perspective
 in every loss; every loss
 (especially the one
 you don't yet feel)
 is unbearable.