Mortal Angel

Bruised and battered and shattered inside.
He said he felt good.
He knew that he lied.
While you waited, wanting him healed,
All of his pain was tied up and sealed.
No question you asked, no answer revealed
Would fix this:  You knew not what to wield.
He wished to speak of the hurt bound within
A heart so beat-up and scarred hard by sin.
But by that same scarring, doors were barred.
Who would wish a heart so marred?
Yet he ran, seeking an exit,
Pushing red muscle, hoping to flex it.
He could not bear to bruise anew
A shattered heart still beating for you.
When his need drove him to cry
Inside a bound heart refusing to die,
You reached all the way through.
You touched his heart.
Scars faded, whether
Wounds or words or bruises traded.
Pain made sweet.
You nursed, you aided.
Now heart wounds are whole
Scars faded.
Live, and love, and fill a new role.
This once-battered heart is better,
All the way through.
Living mortal angel, thank you.

Adam Scott Campbell