Shame

A baby feels no shame,
No.
But how quickly we learn
How intimately wound
Into our very selves
Shame soon becomes.

Is it like baby teeth?
Waiting unerupted
In the gums
Of our souls?
No
Everybody’s shame
Is different.
We could never make
Sets of false shame
For elders who lost theirs.

Perhaps shame is like
Learning to talk.
Maybe we are
Hardwired
To learn shame
As soon as our
Surrounding loved ones
Teach us.

A scientist could
Study
Shame. Learn the
Deep Whorfian structure
Recognize the
Universal underlying
Grammar
Of shame:
Dr. Chaime Nomsky,
The eminent shamist.

Oct. 24, 2007