The Wounded Healer

They say hurt people hurt people.

But that is not the whole story.

Some carry pain

and refuse to pass it on.

Some have been torn open

and still choose tenderness.

Our wounds do not decide our hands.

They are the soil where compassion grows,

the cracks where light finds its way in.

Pain is not the last word here.

A wounded healer is not the unscarred.

It’s the one who has sat with their own ache,

let it teach patience and tenderness,

and still reaches out.

Perhaps this is the way of being wounded -

to hold tenderness

and let it run deeper

than the pain.