Own Heroic Mission

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Moved on, another phrase to contemplate:
“If receiving is your aim, you will be living
a life of constant deficiency” - wondering
whether it also applies to receiving stories

If I start pouring stories into the emotional
stream, would that mean finding my own
heroic mission, would I be giving my life
to others - serving in a Kalkutta hospital

as sister Theresa did, does not come na-
turally to me, my three-night stint in
the septic ward of a city hospital was a
big disaster, I pricked my head

with the hatpins used to affix the head-
gear so blood streamed down my face,
working in an old-age home when I was
sixteen did not invite future investment

wiping bottoms for the incontinent made
me draw up a living testament, never to
live if I cannot be independent; trying
mission work left me despondent

Social work amongst the poor instead of
telling them jokes or singing to them, did
not work out; so here I am - stuck with a
miserable document…
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