With no frame of reference it’s easy
to assume, to judge, to know exactly
how another person feels but have it wrong,
So wrong you say such hurtful, stupid things.
In ignorance, of course, but still words have
the pow’r to devastate. So if you haven’t
gone through pain, debilitating pain,
or anguished over the decision to divorce,
or seen one parent hit the other,
been the victim of abuse, or love someone
whom everyone around you says
must never love you back, or stood beside
the casket of your child or wiped away
tot tears that stream down someone’s face
because a bully spoke or sneered and knew
they’d get away with it…if you have never
seen someone you care about turn into someone
else because of drugs or alcohol, or gone to
sleep beneath a bridge because it’s raining,
stood and watched as others got the praise
for something you achieved, or known the
ridicule of those who don’t respect another’s
faith or feelings, held the hand of someone
as he slipped into eternity, wrestled with
a choice that meant that everything would change
and you were so afraid to make it, so afraid
to not…be careful what you say. Be careful.
All around you stand the very people who have
sunk to levels you can’t comprehend, whose
suffering's the stuff of poetry and books
and songs, the kind you love because they
make you feel so lucky, as yet untouched by
all these hurtful things. As yet.
(c) Ellen Gillette, 2014
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