Dignity

There is a lie afoot

that, having once been vanquished

and dehumanized,

we remain blinded, malformed puppets

in all things.

True, the seared wounds

burn and bleed,

arresting forward motion

in the afflicted parts,

but the pulsing mind still

contacts truth,

observing and measuring

the real.

More than the burn,

more than the bleed,

more than the brokenness

of pain swelling, splitting, cracking the very shell

of what we were,

fear far more, instead,

those who

dehumanize the dehumanized,

cripple the cripple,

and step into the scarred chambers

of the heart

as though into a nursery,

wallpapering fairy tales

where Christ already

imprinted His cross.