The char on the inside

Doesn’t go away

Tattooed and scarred

Although the bleeding

Stopped, years ago

The ache remains

I scrape at it

A little at a time

Sloughing off

The dead tissue

Taking much

Too much

Of the living with it

It’s down to bone

In a few places

But that’s necessary

The pain recedes

A little, gives way

To grieving

But it’s better

To have nothing

Left, eventually

Than what festers

Now, in its place