Let Me Count The Wounds In Your Heart Poem by RIC BASTASA

pain is so ordinary you say
we get used to every pain
we cound the wounds
and we cannot finish
somehow
some refuse to remember
what pain is
what is the use of remembering
what hurts you

but i am different i say
i count the wounds and i always remember what hurts me
every detail
every note of the pain like a very sad song
that i always hum
i keep all these sad refrains in my heart
not that i have learned to hurt myself
needlessly unnecessarily

it is simply a matter of
remembering the beauty of these wounds
that healed
gathering all over again the lessons learned
the loves lost
the strengths regained

at the end i see the scars
drawing
sketching
this face of a very strong man
undefeated
redeemed

smiling over the pains
that almost conquered him

almost, yes always almost
because he always
survives and always
he learns, always

always, yes, always