A free verse poem on the power of words.

Sticks and Stones

I was always told:

"Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me".
Oh but they did hurt me.

I was always told
To keep my head up
To brush off what was said,
It would be fine.

But after time the words became to much.
Friends abandoned because of something someone said
A secret reputation I didn't know I had
And yet some say that it is fine. That it is nothing. That they're just words.

Words can't hurt.

So words can't hurt me?
Time after time
year after year
I start to think that what they say is true because it has to be true.
How could it not be true?

Everyone else says I'm worthless
So I must be worthless.

Everyone says I'm a whore
So I must be a whore.

Words swirling around me digging deeper into my mind finding crevices in my heart and slowly, ever so slowly, tear me apart.
Apparently I had three boyfriends at one time
though I knew none of them.
Apparently I did so many things that I have no memory of.

Story after story
Lie after lie.
I tried to brush it off as if it meant nothing
but I was lying to myself.

I'd rather have all my bones broken into pieces than endure the pain words bring
For words bring more pain than anything I've known.
They've left me with insecurities that haunt me
endlessly torturing me.

I am broken because words broke me
No words can fully fix me.

Sticks and stones, have a chance of breaking my bones,
yet words will permanently scar me.