Echoes

if there's anything I've learned from
tears
it's that pain is not relative -
if it hurts, it hurts.

if there's anything I want you to know,
it's this -
that you are not
an echo.

and if you're somewhere wondering
with age-old tears
how many times you must send your echoes
into the past
until you finally realize how very far you are
from it,

let me tell you that
you are far
and wide
and deeply
separated from
it.

and no amount of tears or guilt or self-hate
can ever amount to how much
worth you are
in His arms

or how very far and wide and deeply
He has forgiven you.

and if you're sitting, wondering who or what or why it is
that you've cried so much for,
let me tell you that you

are so much more loved
than you could ever dare dream.

that you

are very much alive
and very much forgiven.

I know - you think you can't overcome -
you think you'll never be more than
an echo,
reverberating through
past mistakes -
softer, softer,
until you
fade.

I know - there is much pain.

but somewhere between birthmarks and crows' feet
you'll be okay

somewhere -
between side A and side B,
you'll find your way.

and I know that you are so much more than
an echo
and you deserve so much more than to
hear yourself vibrating along
empty walls.

and if there's anything I've learned from tears it's that
pain is not relative,

and if you're wondering how many more times you must
echo into the past...

if it hurts, it hurts.