I'm allowed to be happy, too

Zurich Airport

You are allowed to be happy. Remind yourself that.

Don’t let them take away your joy. I know it hurts.

But they, whoever they are, know that they are only thinking of themselves.

They aren’t thinking about your pain;

even when they wound you.

And even when they mean it.

*

You see her smile

and I know

the punch in your stomach.

Because I feel it too,

and it’s a fresh wound.

My scar tissue’s gonna be so tough

because I open up every time I look around.

But I won’t walk through my own life with closed eyes.

This was the illumination I never knew I needed,

and the proof is in your venin.