Pain

From the cracks of the armor
it bleeds
There is no stopping the drip
when all you see are the drops


They tell me it is crimson
The color of one’s courage
But all I can see
within the storm
is the blur of cloudy tears


They tell me I’ll grow stronger
if I learn to like its taste
But all I can feel
is the hurt inside
when it’s left to grow


They tell me it’s inevitable
like death and growing older
But how can they
be siblings
if I can name just one?


I’ve spent my life
learning its real causes
and the remedies
for its relief


But the way to it
and the way from it
cannot walk hand-in-hand
For holding to it
or running from it
will just lead you to the land


Where there are no ways
for you to walk
no place from which to flee
For there is no from
nor to or through
when it comes to it you see


It’s just the way
Like all the paths
that seek to set you free
Like the love we walked
to bring us here
to the end of you and me