soul

“He took pieces of me I had not known were for the taking, and in the aftermath, I stared at carnage, searching for reason. I hurt for a while. I hated him for a while, but the truth is, if he had not hurt me, someone else would have. Childlike innocence cannot last forever. Children are good. I was kind, and then, I was not for a while. I stared at humanity with suspicion, until I looked in the mirror one day and did not know who or what I had become. To be kind is natural. To love is natural, until one day, we find ourselves unable, and in those moments, you will find yourself so very cold. But one day you will heal. One day you will stare at your own hands with wonder that they can be warm without the touch of another, that their heat burns from within. You will find that true strength lies not in being kind in ignorance, but in being kind despite knowing suffering. To love like this; in those moments, you will know what it means to be human.”

And in the end, we were all just humans drunk on the idea that love, only love, could heal our brokenness.

"When everything reminds you of some sort of pain you had endured, where is your respite?"