Wounds Let In the Light
by Michael Doyle

They say our wounds let in the light
I don't know if it's by experience or second light
But something about this notion is wound tight
And from what I have seen, perhaps they're right

The worst wound is taken in a moral injury
The type of forced wrong against immortality
That sears the soul in our fated mortality
And leaves many as dead as any other fatality

When the smoke clears at their war's end
There is sometimes little left of ourselves to defend
Having seen what we have, there's no going back again
To our better selves before our self-confessed sin

No longer are we as innocent as we once stood
Back when we believed we were born innately good
We would give almost anything to return if we could
But that we cannot is clearly and deeply understood

Life's river is never entered again quite the same
Once we have left that awkwardly innocent lane
They say we are not the ones to bear the shame
But guilt is guilt under any other comforting name

(c) November 19, 2020  Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved