This poem by Tomas Unger and specially the last two lines, resonate with me:
The surprise always
something has not abandoned us,
the way, standing there, another’s
expression as you realize
has become yours—
Self given, self seen—
Suffering composing
itself is compassion.
Unsure if that is what the poet intended, but I read that to mean when one has suffered enough, they are able to recompose that into compassion. So another undergoing similar suffering will see their feelings mirrored in our face and that would be viewed as our compassion for them. I have known people in my life who have experienced pain well beyond anything I have known. I might be able to comprehend and even commiserate but compassion as Unger describes would need to come from lived experience.
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