The Story Behind the Poem: Broken

I watched this AGT audition awhile ago and immediately went to my computer and wrote this poem. The way he was bullied and torn down by others really hit me. It’s sadly, not a unique story. We, humans, are sometimes just not very nice to each other.

I walked away from my computer and let the words I had written sit.

This week Roe vs. Wade was overturned and everyone seemed to be in an uproar. A friend posted on Facebook about how sad seeing all the hatred made her.

For some reason that night, I sat down at my computer and re-read the poem. The timing seemed meaningful.

Pain

There’s so much pain in the world, so many tears hidden down so deep.

Hopelessness lying beneath the surface, the grief in your soul you keep.

 

You don’t know the scars I carry, the wounds that lay open wide.

I don’t know the sadness you feel, or all the hurt you are fighting to hide.

 

But there are two paths we each get to choose whenever we cross one another.

A path of love and compassion. The other that will cruelly uncover,

 

the wounds we are trying desperately to heal, and the injury felt so deep.

Will the path we choose, fill the other with sorrow or provide a moment of relief?

 

I remember how it helped when you held dark words and instead smiled when I passed by.

And I understand the blow it is when another didn’t even try.

The under-breath comments, the gossip, and the words they didn’t think much of.

I remember when they showed me hatred when they could have shown me love.

 

There is so much hurt and pain today, no matter where you are.

There is someone desperately fighting inside, and just moving forward is hard.

 

And we never really know just who that struggling someone might possibly be.

So no matter whose path you cross in your day, you simply must believe,

 

that the smallest act of kindness, or withholding, the cruel words you never send,

might be the thing that saves someone else from the darkness threatening to engulf them.

 

Remember when you were hurting, when you felt desperately alone,

how you hoped others would have treated you if only they had known,

 

how hard the struggle felt that day, how hopelessness filled the air,

how one kind act filled with compassion would have helped you bear,

 

the burden that you carry. How kindness could have lifted you, instead of malice keeping you so low.

So, as you go about your day today, just remember before you act, you truly never know.

 

How choosing kindness instead of cruelty, thoughtfulness over disdain,

might give that other person the small piece of hope they need to here remain.

 

The one with a breaking heart and crying soul that is filled with wretched sorrow,

Might feel your one small act of kindness and let it carry them into another tomorrow.

Read here about how to help your children with bullies.