Blessed Are Those You Are In Pain Poem by RIC BASTASA

it is when you are
in a situation when you
are wounded
and it is concealed
and you pretend that there
is no pain at all
and you keep it to yourself
and you pray for your
own healing

no one must know
and there is no use telling

it is here when you learn
to be discreet with suffering
as though there is no
language for it
when you learn to use the metaphors
as he once used the parables.

to be direct is to be candid
and there is nothing artistic about it.

it would seem then
that to be an artist is to be a pretender
an expert in covering with a veil
the face of sorrow
putting curtains on those windows
to make an old house beautiful to see
for those who are merely passing by.

blessed are those you are in pain
and who cannot talk about it
in the secrecy of all these pains
the much needed healing begins.