This Life

By Justine C. Tajonera

In what world
would there be
no suffering?
I would not give
up a utopian world
in exchange for
a child's
life.
No, there are
no worthy
exchanges.
There is only
this life
and what
I make
of it:
the constant
din of mall
shops,
the children
who sleep
on the streets,
the food growing
cold
in front
of me,
a woman
limping,
a man in
slippers,
carrying
his dreaming
little girl.
There is only
this life
and all that
I make it
to be.

(Sept. 14, 2009)