Have mercy on the people who suffer out loud,
Who cry and yell and hold your hand like a lifeline because if they let go, their world will crumble beneath their feet.
Those who soak the ground with puddles of tears and rivers of pain because they don’t know what to do,
Except to explode.

Have mercy on the people who suffer in silence,
Who smile and laugh and pretend they are fine
As they break down inside, soul dissolving into a puddle of nothingness
A lifeless black hole, a void,
Because it’s better to implode than to show pain.

Have mercy on the people you hate,
Who taunt and whisper and leave a trail of stab wounds in the backs of the fallen,
Because they hurt, too,
But they convince themselves that it’s easier to make others cry
Than to face their own pain.

Have mercy on the people you love,
Who are always there
But sometimes make you scream with frustration and want to slam doors in their faces,
Because they hurt when you hurt
And your pain is their pain,
And all they want is to keep it away.

Have mercy on yourself
When you look in the mirror and don’t like what you see,
When you look back on a moment and want to pound your fist against a wall,
When people see you cry and you hide your face in shame,
When you hate yourself for being you,
But know you cannot change.

Have mercy on the world,
Because maybe, one day,
You will comfort someone who suffers out loud as they cry of self-hatred,
And they will be the saving hand for a friend suffering in silence,
And that friend will understand the fear behind the cruel words of their tormenter and will try to ease their pain,
And that former enemy will smile at someone they love instead of screaming behind a closed door,
And that loving person will look you in the eye and make you see how special you are when you saw nothing but imperfections in the mirror.

Have mercy on the world, because then maybe, one day, there will be no reason to suffer at all.