it just healed that way

that man, walking so slowly down the side of the road

from a distance, it almost appears as if he is dancing

yet as i get closer, i can see, it is an obvious painful walk

a leg with an obvious bend

that while he walks, he dips

a break perhaps

untreated, untended, unpaid for, unaccounted for

his leg wasn't born misshapen

it just healed that way

this woman standing by me

in the line at the grocery store

stares into space

her eye cloudy and unseeing

her other eye weeping unconscious tears

the scar running down the side of her face

tells a story

and in the end you know

her eye was not born with a veil

it just healed that way

as i rush from the liquor store

my evening's comfort secure in my hand

i avoid that man, raging against an unseen foe

thrusting his chest out, eyes blazing

meaning business

i know

his mind was not born confused and disoriented

it just healed that way

and as i reflect on my harsh, often acid-laced words

and wonder why

i lash out, retreat, regret, reflect, and react the way i do

i think i can honestly say

my heart was not born, like this

it just healed that way

Reviews

[Jibey]

A poem of compassion... each of us has a broken part, a centre of pain that never goes away