Words are like bells:
never to be unrung
Their memory echoes
through every fissure
in the heart

Thoughtless words –
off the cuff
a laugh, a lightness
to conceal the blade
until you suddenly bleed

Shards and edges
and the harshest of truths
in the carelessness.
Then, shocking awareness
rises like the sun

Burning away
rose-colored visions…