-Barrie Wade
Sticks and stones may break my bones
But words can also hurt me.
Stones and sticks break only skin
While words are ghosts that haunt me.
Slant and curved the word swords fall
To pierce and stick inside me.
Bats and bricks may ache through bones
But words can mortify me.
Pain from words has left its scar
On mind and heart that’s tender.
Cuts and bruises now have healed;
It’s words that I remember.