It has been noticed that something is missing.
My inner life is searching, searching... for what?
To get an answer I have recourse to mathematics,
the saviour of the world from illogicality and fuzzy thinking.
Let us call this missing factor x.
We'll use a simple equation. We'll set
on one side of the sign for equality
the love and lust by which my life's been guided:
the family, friends and lovers,
the satisfactions of the senses and the ego
that I daily get
from places where I live,
my work
my freedom -
let's call the sum of those a simple y.
Let us call my soul z.
You see now how easy it is to compute the formula:
x = z - y.
And what is x then?
I know the answer and the mathematics hasn't helped.
x = the cries in my profoundest dreams from my soul's depths,
the wails of the child who is lost,
the sobs of the one who cannot trust herself
and who calls this despair the need for home.
QED
Janice Windle
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/journey-inwards-collection-the-sum-of-its-parts/
