I had a dream that I was designing a tattoo
It read "pain is poetry"
In dark letters that curled elegantly
& I thought about explaining this to people
"Pain is not always understood at first,
Sometimes only after revisiting it,
Are you able to digest it.
Sometimes you're angry that you don't know what it means,
You toss it aside,
You don't question it,
It stays buried, uninterpreted.
& it's annoying, yes, to have to look up words
& to understand only after experience.
It becomes something you appreciate
But try to stay away from, a fire.
It's beautiful, if you think about it though,
If you have the right frame of mind,
It tells you what happiness is,
It sends a current through your soul,
& asks you how you will capture it,
How will you turn this sparking shock into a light
How will you manage to grow with feeling less,
Envelop the distress with memories of calm.
It's really quite poetic when you think about it."