a blessing for being close to pain, too close

Blessed are you who find yourself
near to trauma,
perhaps even the one closest
to the one who has suffered so much.

For you too nothing is the same anymore.

The air has changed
the furniture of your life rearranged
and the cables that once anchored you
to what you knew
have come undone.

Yes, you are doing all you can,
embracing the gift of offering comfort.
Yes, you are doing all the things
you know to do
as the aftermath unfolds.

But, dear one,
let me gently take you aside to say,
this trauma has happened to you too
though you may not feel free to say it.

You too have pain
that may feel too raw and too deep
to excavate and examine just now.
There is so much else to do.

Yet it is there,
telling you in many ways
it will need attention too.
Perhaps even now.

Blessed are you,
gently beginning to name
your own felt needs
and look to the comforts
that will sustain you.

Blessed are you who have discovered
that in your humanity
you have been welcomed into the
community of the wounded.

May you feel all of your own woundedness,
and the tenderness of your own heart,
seen, loved, and held.