Please
Before you go hug your shiny metal friends
That see everything in red
Please just listen to me the whole way through
No need to sit palms facing down
No need for long sleeves year-round
No need for shame
I'm not one of them
One of the many who ridicule
Who wonder how a human being could stoop so low as to harm him or her self
Who would so ignorantly think of you with disgust
Who sees with blinders the lines of flesh on your wrists
And takes no care to look past them
To see the rest of your beautiful heart
Through the mist and darkness of your worst facet
And part of the pain you inflict on yourself
Is not done with the sharpest piece of steel
But with an even sharper tongue
Which your ears are devoted to hearing
And your eyes have cataracts of sadness
Blocking all the light but reveling in the darkness
I may not understand your pain
But nevertheless I understand
That as it pours out
Warm and red
So does the pain
Yet the pain is just an illusion
To be countered with all the good that surrounds and is within us
Put down the blades and let time and my kindness and the kindness of others who are just within your reach
Let it heal the wounds and let it make you see the joy that is already there
But which your perpetual depression masks behind a veil of gloom