Hurt-

I called him today on my way home
I could hear it in his voice
Hurt
I asked him what was wrong
He seemed surprised but not quite
That I could tell
I stated
You sound like you have been hurt
You sound like you are in pain
Where are you? he asked
On my way home
Will you make me a cup of tea?
Yes I will. I'll be home in 45 mins.
I drove home, kid in tow...
He was in my driveway when I pulled up
A lost man- in his shiny new car
The unhappy man
In his silver mercedes
My kid ran in to settle in
I went out to meet him
He stepped out and gave me one of those hugs I remembered
We walked in and I asked him
What's wrong
I can't say...
Well then we shall have tea in silence. I am here.
I probed a little and saw too much- so I stopped
It was too immense- his hurt
It was too intense- his pain
So private- his agony
I felt I intruded
Isn't it funny
How well we can read those whom we have once loved?
I listened as he tried to talk around it.
I let him know
I understood.
The magnitude of this ache
And so we sat in silence
This man and I
And I knew he was broken
Broken inside
It ate at him
His loss
Regret he had
Ahhh the loves we lose
And he ached today
For something he never grasped
When he had the chance
And today
It was gone
Change of heart
I felt for this man
And his immense pain
He has lost a love and he mourns that today
He has lost a love and he cannot replace
And he comes now to me
Because I am his friend
He comes now to me because I can understand
My poor dear friend
He breaks today-
So I averted my eyes
If I looked too deep into his
I could see the ache
The break
Of his soul
It was too much to look at
And so I sat with him in silence
And I felt his pain

I hurt you too once... he said to me...
I tried to think back to the pain he had caused me
I tried hard to remember
Funny how it wasn't there-
Such a vague memory
So far gone
All that was left
A wisp, I had to struggle to remember
-------

And all the memories fade
And all the memories fade

-------

And later after I told him goodbye
And my daughter noted to him
That he looked so unhappy
He laughed with me
At her innocence
And then he left
His grief too recent
His heart too torn
To sit still for too long
This poor wandering
Lost soul
May he find peace, somewhere
Somehow
Tonight
-------

And so I sit here
Warm at home
Heart all broken
On the mend
Not quite as lost
As the one I faced today
Time heals all
And this I know
It healed me of the one I faced today
A lifetime ago
I could not even remember the ache
I could be compassionate to him
I could actually feel his pain
Feel for him
Care for him in such a loving and neutral way
Yes time heals all wounds
And in time the one I nurse now
Will heal too
Someday I will look back and try hard to recall
The pain I once felt
For my most recent fall
Time heals all
-------

And all the memories fade
And all the memories fade
Send the ghosts on their way
Tell them they've had their day
It's someone else's tomorrow
(Patty Griffin)