Wounds

Response to prompt #27- They Say, I Say

Wounds
by Laurie J. Kemp

They say time heals all wounds. I say
not exactly. Time rubs up against
a wound over and over again. If you are lucky
perhaps, the friction of time, repeatedly agitating,
builds up a toughness, a thickening of the skin,
a callus if you will, a barrier to more pain,
a shield from further wound. Alternatively, in a soft spot
the friction of time repeatedly agitating, creates rawness,
peeling away layers before they can tighten up again,
exposing fleshy vulnerable nerve endings, reaching
desperately for opposite ends, begging for a chance
to seal up and dry. Time does not heal all wounds,
it gives us a choice to live with the misery of red
fleshy rawness day after day, continuing to salt ourselves
in agony. Or we can build up layers of toughness
protecting ourselves from more impending pain.