pain and how its seen

what pain might be

Sometimes I wonder what goes through one's mind about pain.
Is it losing someone you love,
or being stuck with someone you hate?
Is it the sting in your skin,
or sickness that settles into your bones?
Or is it the thoughts in your head,
and the dreams that won't leave?
Is pain the memory of a blade,
or letting someone go
because you believe they deserve better than you?
Is it losing your hair to chemo,
not recognizing yourself in the mirror,
mourning who you used to be?
Or falling five stories,
breaking both legs,
and losing the one thing that kept you alive?
Is pain watching your family taken by I.C.E.,
called animals by strangers who never knew them?
Or relapsing right before a trial
meant to bring your children home?
I think pain is never just one thing.
Those who feel it are often the strongest.
Pain can be as small as hitting your head,
or as big as losing your children in a house fire.
Pain lives deep in the heart.
No matter where it strikes,
it hurts.
I wonder what you, reader,
think pain is.
-- stuckintheend