Traversing the river of pain

**It is not years but experiences and actions that determine our worth, our capacity for caring, for understanding, for knowing.**

I am not old, yet far too wise.
I am not wise, yet much too experienced.
I am not broken, but I know pain.
I know the depths of the dark sea, the feelings of fire, poison, ice --
inside, not out.
All pain, by nature, is internal.
A stick, alone, does not feel: it lacks the wholeness of a tree.
To feel, we need a life force, a growing consciousness, a soul.
I cannot know what you are feeling, but I can understand the pain, the isolation, the protective shield around the heart -- for to feel too deeply is to be immersed in a living ocean too vast for words... or breath.
I cannot help you as I wish, for I know not how to dry this ocean, fight the fire, reverse the past, heal the present and those in it.
I cannot affect the balance of the world, heal your heart and change G-d's wrongs-- for yes, I will call them that, I will shout them to the Heavens!
But I can listen, understand, feel more than most creatures of my years.
Once your heart has been torn, your soul scraped, there is no going back.
Healing will come, but scars will remain, and your heart will never be the same.
Stronger in some ways, yet weaker in others, for that seems to be the way of the world.
I am not wise, and I have no way of knowing your experience.
But my heart is open, my mind deepened by joy and pain.
So I promise you this: if it ever seems too much, you will never have to face it alone.
No matter how angry you are with me or how imperfect I am.
I will not let you fall, and that is the most I have to offer.