Hurt

we all have that someone
the first one
maybe it was a betrayal
or a lie
or a withdrawal of connection
or the living of a double life
or talking behind your back
or degrading you
 
but whatever it was
that same feeling came
sinking, sharp
cutting your breath from your lungs
knocking your thoughts against each other
making you think
am i crazy?  is the world not as it seems? 
 
the pain that we cause each other is deep
as jewel says
"words can crush things that are unseen" 
 
its fragile existence dependent
upon others
what unseen things in your life have been

crushed?

we like to think we have a choice
of who we let 
into our life
if only it were that simple 

we like to think we can control
who has the power
to hurt us
if only it were that simple

we do not have much control
over it all
and when we do try to control it
i don't get hurt, because i don't let
people get close to me
it backfires.

such a strange emotion
hurt
internal injury
pain
the feeling of being devalued by someone
who you wish valued you more

is it usually unintentional?
do we do it on purpose sometimes?
do we hate to admit that we may have
hurt someone else?
instead, preferring to say
you're too sensitive.

it's a common emotion.
a combination emotion.
the researchers say it's located
somewhere between anger
and guilt on the unseen
scale of our emotions.

what can we learn from our experience of it?
how can we react and recover from those
injuries?
how can we transform those experiences
into things that make us better and not
bitter?