Sticks & stones may break my bones

But words will never hurt me.

A stiff-upper-lipped, big-boy-who-don’t-cry

British dad probably came up with that.

He may have been trying to comfort his kids.

But maybe he used it to rationalize

a sadistic indulgence

to shame a bed-wetting daughter,

and mock her stuttering brother.

These words are neither sticks, nor stones.

They are knives,

Slicing hearts and dicing souls.