Well, what is this
that hurts so much,
so unexpected but
real, so powerful,
monstrous, cruel?

Breathless I am,
shaking, naked
in its wake, astonished,
laughing but folding
over in pain.

This is the silence
that replaces the noise
that filled in the spaces
of my life, but now
the gaps have grown
visible, a bloody
open festering sore
that only I can see.

This is the hurt that eats
away my tender parts,
chewing away slowly,
like a starved rat,
the person I once was.

Eating, hungry, and never
a reprieve, but you will
never see a scar on
the outside sheen,
for I am proper and
well placed, the person
congenial and kind with
nothing but a smile.

 

3/3/2024