How long will you continue this battle?
Will the angry red streaks follow you to old age?
Woven between blue veins and the wrinkles of time
Forever a reminder of younger years
Full of grief and sorrow
And the hatred of losing control
All compressed into ugly lines
Scattered up and down your arms, legs, stomach

Will your grandchildren see these marks?
Their chubby fingers trace the injured skin
As they ask what happened
How do you explain that to a child?
Eyes brimming with innocence and trust
How quickly will their hearts break if you tell them the truth?
Realizing your pain was self-inflicted
And then, how quickly will yours shatter?
Seeing smiles melt off their faces

Don't make it harder for yourself
Fix the fractures while you can
Repair your broken soul
So that love fills every crack
And that their childlike purity
Is not yet lost