Pain
by Frank Weber
You have to feel the pain
and roll around
down in the dirt and the gravel
swimming out of puddles and
ankle-deep potholes
there’s no other way to grow and
there’s no other way to gain
from the world around you.
You have to taste that pain
when it burns your tongue
you have to savor the flavor
as you swallow it down
let it cling to every fiber
deep inside and
let it burn deep down
into every vein of your body.
If you can’t ever feel it,
then you won’t ever know it
If you can’t live with that pain,
then you won’t ever own it
If you run from that pain then
you’re forced to live without it
and it will leave you
an empty glass wanting to shatter.
You have to take that pain
you have to take it as a gift
Because you gain nothing from safety
Because you gain nothing from calm
If you never felt it
you won’t ever know it.
Not without the pain.
Not ever. Not ever.
No...you won’t.
Frank Weber is a freelance writer from Erie, Pennsylvania. He is a published author and has been featured in several print magazines, local interest books and advertising campaigns as both writer and model. Frank draws inspiration from the Kerouac-Bukowski-Thompson vein of writing. His work encompasses a firm conviction, a simple honesty in written word and enough of a raw edge to make people feel what they read.