If You Prick My Vices

"If you prick my vices, they will bleed too,"

I said beside my friend in the emergency room,

Bearing witness to hers, which so often steals souls away.

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Wheeling her back, I followed in tow,

Reflecting on myself and flaws of my own,

Hoping to hold them in my hand, and grow.

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The good teaches lessons, wise and true,

The bad teaches too, though harder to chew.

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Healing comes from acknowledging pain,

Living means acknowledging life, again and again.

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With the stroke of my pen, I tip my hat,

To the good and bad, sorting files in my head,

Like my friend enduring, striving forward, just the same.