Healing Wounds

I have been ripped wide open
by a word, a look, a gesture
from self, kin, and stranger.
My soul jumps out
scurries into hiding
i hobble here and there
seeking solace
trying to coax it back home
but the me that's home
has become alien without it.
Wailing, i pull my hair
suck snot back and swallow it
place both hands over the wound
but after all these years
it still bleeds
never realizing that to heal
there must be wounds
to repair there must be damage
for light there must be darkness.