Pain is not the enemy.
You need not arm yourself
against it,
or hunker down hiding
in a cold trench.
What would happen
if you invited it in,
let it stay a while?
You might find that it
won’t riddle you with bullets
and leave you lifeless.
If you sit down with it, stare it in the eye,
befriend it,
it may reach out,
gently brush the hair from your face
and whisper into your ear.
Later, you will realize that it was
this moment, the one you feared
would be the end of you,
That was the beginning.
It was the moment
that divided your life
Into before and after,
the moment that
catapulted you into kindness.
