Do I Have the Permission to Feel Hurt?

I’ve come a long way forth,
I’ve been feeling a lot lighter.
The confrontation with reality
has helped me mend and heal.
The embrace of this life ‘as is,’
comforts me even when I can’t.
Yet, when it lets me lose at times,
I break into uncountable pieces.
I come undone so dispiritingly
that it seems like I never healed.
And, I contemplate: do I have
the permission to feel hurt?

You’re doing what you have to,
and I am doing what I have to.
We’re always there for each other
in the highs and surely in the lows.
I’m grateful, yet, at times, my mind
says, “You don’t matter as much.”
It convincingly tells me I’m but
a sidekick in the story we share.
I come undone so dispiritingly
that it seems like I never healed.
And, I contemplate: do I have
the permission to feel hurt?