In Your Shoes Poem by Paul Holmes

In Your Shoes
I feel like a lonely leaf
High up on a tree,
Buffeted, with no relief
In sight to set me free.
My heart has a pain
That will not go away,
I’m wreathed in a chain
Imprisoning me all day.
It’s more than ‘the blues’
Thus, my heart won't heal...
(I’m in your shoes
Feeling the way you feel.)

I feel like a block of ice,
Cold and empty of emotion -
People see me and look twice
They haven't any notion
Of the tears, the gnawing pain
Afflicting my weary soul,
Terrible nightmares remain -
Will they swallow me whole?
As the iceberg, you only see
What above the surface appears...
(Yet, I’m in your shoes in empathy,
I know those copious tears.)

I feel like a rag doll
Tossed aside in the mud,
Violence has taken its toll -
Bitterness burns my blood.
All my soul was invested
In making my marriage grow,
It seems i was only interested,
No wonder I'm feeling so low.
Scorned, and cut to the bone
I wonder what will be...
(In your shoes I groan;
Your suff'ring cuts through me!)

I feel like a delicate bubble
Transiently floating by
To burst from the claw of a cat;
To last no longer than a sigh.
For I feel old and the chill,
My pulse is no longer strong;
Wracked with pains, feeling so ill,
Discomfort calls all day long.
O who has a worse time of woe
From morning until night? -
(In your shoes I too know
Your painful plight.)

I feel like the weight of the world
Is pushing heavily down on me,
So many lies have been hurled
To break my integrity!
Years and years have passed by
With emotional scars that smart
Still bringing a tear to my eye -
O how they hurt my heart!
I've borne the incredible sum
Of sins, now centuries old...
For being in your shoes I've won
Release of Sins miserable hold!