Where Does the Hurt Go

I thought the pain would disappear

If I could keep it out of sight

But every road I took away from it

Still brought me back here every night

I've been learning how to live with the unfinished

All the questions that don't have a place to land

There are names I haven't said in years

That still feel familiar in my hands

I don't carry every memory with me

I don't wake up wishing things were different

But sometimes healing feels like standing still

While the rest of life keeps moving with it

Maybe I was wrong to think

That time would make me someone new

Maybe what I need is not forgetting

But a different way to hold the truth

Where does the hurt go

When you let it breathe?

Does it fade into the distance

Or become a part of me?

Where does the hurt go

When you stop the fight?

Maybe it becomes a little lighter

When you let it see the light

I can look at what we were without blaming

I can name the things I couldn't understand

I can miss the way you used to know me

Without reaching for your hand again

There are parts of me I found through losing

There are doors I never would have tried

I don't need to call the ending beautiful

To be grateful I survived the other side

Maybe I was wrong to think

That time would make me someone new

Maybe what I need is not forgetting

But a different way to hold the truth

Where does the hurt go

When you let it breathe?

Does it fade into the distance

Or become a part of me?

Where does the hurt go

When you stop the fight?

Maybe it becomes a little lighter

When you let it see the light

I don't have to turn the scars to stories

I don't have to make the ending right

I can leave some questions unanswered

And still be here to meet the light

I can honor what I once believed in

I can let the old reflections go

Maybe healing isn't losing every shadow

Maybe it's learning where to let them fall

Where does the hurt go

When you let it breathe?

Maybe it becomes a little wisdom

Maybe it sets you free

Where does the hurt go

When you stop the fight?

Maybe it becomes a little lighter

When you let it see the light

I don't need to lose the memory

I just need to let it rest

Somewhere in the quiet

Somewhere in my chest