Healing Scars Into Stars
by Michael Doyle

We can beat ourselves up in the void,
In all the shame we try to avoid. 
Waltzing through interconnecting rooms of shame
This is where we learned to wear our blame.

We tell ourselves that we're different,
Acting humble and somewhat reverent. 
We'd give our lives to learn to be strong,
If only we could find where we belong.

Wound by wound, we become more alone,
Learning that we have no exterior skin of stone.
We wonder what it is for which we must atone,
Until a stranger's voice becomes a friend over our phones.

These are the moments that we feel,
Moment by moment, we learn to be real. 
We find it is the love of such a friend
That brings us to "okay" and the pain ends.

It's somewhere there in the extended hand,
That smile of love that understands. 
With it we learn to reach and extend far
And with hopeful eyes to look up into the stars.

(c) August 29, 2025   Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved