Sharing Pain

A Survivor's Connection

by R. Rosoff 12/13/01

Your early pain...

shared in words measured and precise...

almost envied,

its' enormity: unequivocal... clear,

mine,

hidden in love laid on too thickly,

reeking of guilt.... and hinting of other things.

A child repeatedly damaged -

fear and confusion,

the never ending: "Why, and what did I do?"

uncertainty between every crack;

the glue binding each act and suspect emotion.

Willing to replay the nightmares,

finding bits of sanity,

creating safe moments,

keeping the encircling doubt and rage

from destroying what little good we found and nurtured.

Decisions made poorly, or not at all,

intimacy allowed rarely, expecting loss.

So many of us: ambulatory open wounds,

moving in shadows of our own making,

sharing darkness with a smile and nod of the head,

suspicious of anyone looking genuinely happy,

anyone looking like those who hurt us.

Caring beyond expression,

seeing in your survival,

my potential salvation,

you as evidence and role model;

moving like you, with equal caution... always.

My sibling in poetry...

we come from a wild, twisted, family weed,

and weeds are tough and survive!

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