Sometimes pain just lays in on you.
You don’t even know it’s there.
It can hide real well.
You feel a tweak
You deny.
You deny again.
And again.
And once more.

Then all of a sudden.|
It just lays on you.
Smothering.
Out of hiding
It covers your heart,
Your mind
And it just

Hurts.

There’s a truth in pain.
An honesty.
It would be refreshing
If it wasn’t so disconcerting.
But it is.
Disconcerting.
Upsetting.Ri
Spinning you dizzy
When the world you created
To deny that pain

Cracks

The light comes in the cracks
The glaring bright light
The kind you shield your eyes from
Yet you still see it, behind your eyelids

Like looking at the sun
It blinds you
You have to sit with it
For an hour
Or a day
Or a week
But not forever.

You try to catch your breath.
You try to throw it off of you.
But it’s heavy
It’s weighted
Its origin is deep
Deeper than you knew

Finally,
With every last ounce of your energy
You throw it off
It’s left you bruised and broken
And hurting.

But you still have your breath.
You can begin again.
Breathe.
Dig down.
Deep.
Breathe.

Rise.

 

By Deborah E. Dayen