On Wearing Your Pain

Your pain is something you wear
Strapped
Pinned
Stapled
Nailed
To your chest

You can't hide it
There's no use
Why would you try to tuck away something so
Gratuitous
Toxic
Bloody
And
Beautiful?

It's too big to hide under your bed
Too shiny to hide in your dark corners
Too smart for you to try to question it's own existence

So you're stuck with it
And since you're stuck with it
You wear it
Wear it like the Badge of Courage it is
Like the Medal of Honor you earned
Like the Nobel Peace Prize you worked so hard Just to say
That you finally made it