Subsequent Emotion

words of life
lay at our feet
or on our shoulders
or in our hearts
but they are just words
and like all words
they can give
or they can take away,
they can give joy
or they can give pain
and for the user
they can be carefully
chosen or spoken
out in haste
but they are nonetheless
vicious either way used
as the hearer knows
all too well since
they bear the burden
of the attack and
subsequent emotion.

23Apr17