The Need for Touch

To touch and be touched is perhaps the most human thing we do.
It can provoke many emotions.
Those who have been hurt, fear it; and want to run away.
Run away from the terror, the abuse, the roughness.
In running away, we feel safe.
Safe from being hurt again... Safe from feeling... But oh so alone...
We have lost trust... the trust we had as a child.

Each time we are hurt, it becomes harder to trust in another.
Trusting that, in reaching out, we won't be hurt again.
But without trust, there can be no peace..
If there is no peace, there will always be a longing. Something missing...
In peace, we can be alone if we wish or

We can reach out and soak in the goodness of touching
and being touched by another. Both are good.

When we can trust in another:
Their touch calms us... soothes us... quiets our fears.
While being nursed, a baby caresses its mother while she nurtures him.

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poem by Walter Killeen
Added by Poetry Lover
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