it's too much to hope for ...

It's too much to hope for a life without pain,
It's wrong to expect a life without pain,
For pain is our body's defense.
No matter how much we dislike it,
And nobody likes pain,
Pain is important,
And,
For pain we should be grateful!
How else would we know,
To move our hand from the fire?
Our finger from the blade?
Our foot from the thorn?
So pain is important,
And for pain we should be grateful!
Yet,
There's a type of pain that serves no purpose,
That's chronic pain,
It's that elite band of pain that's not for defense.
It's an attacking force.
An attacker from within
A destroyer of personal happiness
An aggressive assailant on personal ability
A ceaseless invader of personal peace
And,
A continuous harassment to life!
Chronic pain is the hardest hurdle for the mind to jump.
Sometimes it is almost impossible to jump,
Yet, we must keep trying,
And trying,
And trying.
Because if we don't it will destroy.
And,
From this battle will come some good,
The satisfaction of overcomig pain.
The achievement of happiness and peace, of life in spite of it.
This is quite an achievement,
An achievement very special, very personal,
A feeling of strength
Of inner strength
Which has to be experienced to be understood.
So, we all have to accept pain,
Even sometimes destructive pain.
For it is part of the scheme of things,
And the mind can manage it,
And the mind will become stronger for the practice.

-- Jonathan Wilson-Fuller (About)

"The reason for including this poem, with the kind permission of its author, is that it was written when Jonathan was only nine years old!" -- quoted from Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung by Ajahn Brahm, pg. 110/111.

in times of despair, all my troubles - in a funny way (more than anything else) - always brings me back to this poem, which i read a few months ago. somewhat, somehow it eases my heart and releases me from the burden. it is true yet ironic in a way. a life without pain is indeed too much to hope for ....