Words are hurled around without rhyme or reason. One will say what they deem necessary at any given moment, as if not expecting and not knowing that they can't reel them back in like expensive bait on an untouched fishing line. This is bait that cannot be retracted, is swallowed and sinks like lead in the stomach of the fish unfortunate enough to take a bite.

Words spread through the body of the victim, afflicting every sensory system like a poison. Vision is blurred and distorted. Hearing becomes selective. Smells and tastes and textures are blunted and made uniform. The simplest sentence can turn the host of a vibrant life into the walking dead.

In all of the moments that one feels weak, they must not realize the terrible power that they wield. Power to crush a soul or to lift one out of the darkness. Their power may not be equivalent to sticks and stones, but when the aim is not to break bones but to repair them, the analogy is rendered useless. A moot point. Who heals wounds with sticks and stones?

Of course we are all guilty of the words that escape our lips. Not thinking before speaking is one of the deadliest sins I can think of. Worse than gluttony, certainly, or sloth. Is harming oneself ever so sinful as harming another?

Not that those wicked words can't harm the speaker, of course. Soldiers apprehending their enemies with tear gas always wear masks for their own protection. Is there a mask of any kind that could protect us from the consequences of our own words? We wear many different ones, most commonly one of indifference.

These masks, however, have infinitesimal cracks for words to slip through. Lead poisoning from our fancy top hats.