Stitched

~ Allison Nicole

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Your pain soothes
my deepest wounds
that have seeped into my flesh
and bitten into my bone.
 
Your misery saves
my tired soul
from wearing too thin–
from giving up,
from giving in.
Giving in to the memories
that have tricked my mind
into believing
a piteous lie.
 
Your anguish serves
my battered spirit–
Helping it heal,
covering its scars,
allowing it to revive
and become what it once was.
 
Your tears have stitched
the torment I’ve endured,
for your suffering is now
forever
akin to mine.

26 thoughts on “Stitched”

  1. This is deep, and very well written. As I read it, your poetry becomes
    extremely vivid in my mind, and you do a fantastic job at putting your
    readers in your shoes! One question, in what way exactly does the suffering of
    others help relieve your own wounds, I am just curious.

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    1. I too am curious now…how can others’ sufferings be helpful in dealing with our own sufferings…because honestly, I am relieved seeing other people going thru the same way as I do..lol…

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      1. I think we, as humans, don’t want to feel like we are struggling alone. When we see someone going through similar issues as we are, it comforts us because we know that others are hurting too. That’s why any sort of support group exists. In a way, those members hope others are struggling so that the support will continue.

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          1. There is also a darker side to this. It is called “schadenfreude.” It is a German word that means “harm-joy.” While it essentially is meant to take pleasure in the pain of someone you feel deserves it, there is a form that isn’t necessarily malicious on the conscious level. As part of the human condition, we often look at others who are less fortunate and reconcile our own problems in the vain that “at least we aren’t that person.” It occurs on a subconscious level in everyone to some degree.

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    2. I don’t mean it literally, haha. But when someone really hurts you, usually your first reaction (or at least, my first reaction) is that I wish they could feel what they caused me to feel. It’s not directed at everyone, only the one who hurt me. In my mind, maybe if they knew how much pain their actions/words caused, they wouldn’t have done it in the first place.
      But I’m glad you liked it 🙂

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      1. Oh I totally misunderstood that part, I thought you meant experiencing others suffering helped relieve yours I was like what a bitch! hahaha jk jk…anyways thanks for your answer it makes the poem way more awesome now that I get it

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  2. It is funny many of us feel the same way, yet we think we are alone. It’s like
    a bunch of people at a party wearing masks, not realizing that underneath
    them all are the same faces.

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  4. Isn’t it interesting how different we are. Different interpretations of the same words. I do not see this poem as being about implementing pain on other. I see it as a person finding a kindred soul who has/is experiencing the same depths of pain. Knowing we are not alone in what we go through is comforting.

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    1. Haha I think about that all the time! More or less, you’re right. I didn’t mean that the speaker was implementing any pain on another person, but that someone who hurt the speaker has now, in one way or another, been hurt themselves, which helps the speaker cope with their own pain.

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      1. Ah, karma! The interpretation of our intent as writers is always different when they are read by somebody on the outside looking in through their own lens. that’s what makes writing and reading someone else’s work so interesting 🙂

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          1. The other thing is that sometimes in my head I know exactly what I mean but when I write it, it comes out in a totally different way and I don’t even realise it! Must be a word for that ….

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  7. This is very thought provoking Blair. As usual, you continue to challenge my thinking with your writing. In reading this, I thought about how individuals that are emotionally broken tend to find each other and serve to create a perfect storm to only magnify the troubled feelings they experience. In essence, that person serves as a mirror to see into our selves and the things we wish to ignore.

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    1. Yeah, that’s true that people do that. And it’s kind of what support groups are for. Just talking about a similar problem everyone has and finding comfort in the fact that others are also experiencing it. Members can see how everyone else is reacting and it can help them to overcome it themselves.
      It seems as though this piece struck everyone with a different meaning haha.

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