Sticks and Stones
You know the saying, "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."
It's a lie that we say to protect ourselves.
Because in a world that hits harder with words than it does with material,
It's just easier to hide the invisible scars that tear at our heart,
And point out the visible injuries that temporarily enable our bodies.
Yeah.
Those sticks and stones that break my bones,
May cause my bones to break and my skin to bruise,
But don't you know that those injuries will eventually heal.
Don't you know that they will someday go away,
And altogether be forgotten because of their short visits.
But those words that could supposedly never hurt me,
Are the ones that scar me the most.
Those are the ones that reside in my heart,
And each word somehow breaks apart,
The mental wall I have set up for this purpose of ignoring those words.
Why do you think we say this?
It's obviously not because it's true.
It's because we would rather take a hit and be physically injured,
Just for it to go away in a short amount of time.
But to have someone say something that hurts mentally is a whole other ball game.
It's not something that goes away easily.
We say we're fine to others,
Then just to convince ourselves we say the same phrase over and over again each day.
But when reality comes to check in,
And no matter how many times we try to pray against it,
We realize that we've told a blatant lie.
And again there it resides.
In our hearts,
That, supposedly, could not be torn apart.
In our heads,
That's where they will embed.
And in our lives,
Until the day we die.