WORD BULLETS

© 2008, Wanda L. Harrell

Love is a living thing, deeply desired, greatly valued and most precious;

And Love will flourish as life’s greatest treasure from beginning to end.

However, if cruelly attacked, Love has no place to hide, heal and mend

From the human weapon of mass destruction, a tongue most vicious.

Mortally wounded is my heart and the love it held has been bled;

For the words ‘I’m sorry’ do not take the insidious pain away

Already lost, I try to flee this ridiculous verbal battle and pointless fray,

‘Cause words, like bullets, cannot be taken back once they’re said.

Truthfully tell me, is your rage something you’re really proud of

When you defiantly stand there in that ready-to-do battle position

With words spewing from your mouth like rounds of live ammunition,

Shooting out hateful word bullets that strike down precious Love?

I ask, “What ever happened to civilized talk and polite discussion?”

Those word bullets wound and hurt when they collide with my ears.

Incurably injured is Love as my heart bleeds with my eyes’ salty tears

When I hear the terrible, ugly sound of the word bullets’ percussion.

One of Love’s greatest enemies is the deadly verbal sniper

So if you could keep those brutal word bullets in your mouth,

There would never have to be apologies and regrets for letting out

That language that is as lethal as a bullet and deadly as a viper.

The wounds may be invisible, but they can slay just the same;

Hateful words cannot be forgotten or retrieved once they’re said.

Words’ live ammunition can kill Love as surely as a real bullet’s lead,

Although valuable Love is much too precious to kill or even maim.