This is one way:
The swift amputation.
Clinical,
Words sharp and sudden as a guillotine.
The shock numbs.
If you survive, the pain will flower later.
A careful surgeon could restore it,
Stitch by loving stitch.
The scars will fade in time
Maybe.
Another way:
The slow poison.
Words unspoken, festering,
Resentment growing insidiously
Until all is corrupt, is toxic.
Lancing is painful,
Opening fresh wounds,
But it can cleanse.
And then this:
Atrophy.
Love withering unused.
