Wounded

A simple cut on the hand complicates.

Damaged nerves leave a trail of electric tingles

and numb patches that will never come back to life.

A particular site, painful when pressured,

moves specific activities out of reach.

Regular and extensive exercises are required

to prevent tendons from sticking and digits from stiffening.

The body’s ability to regenerate is awe-producing.

Even then, some degree of woundedness is permanent.

I suppose the same can be said of the heart.

Small hurts fester with infection if not

aerated thoroughly, leaving a scar.

Trauma cripples the psyche,

never able to fully restore.

Familiar stories press on tender memories,

initiating a jolt of pain.

But move, we must. Stretching against

the propensity to get stuck and create distance within ourselves.

A lifetime task: to accept the scars from wounds that will never heal.