it lays in my lap…
closed…
and anything but silent…
it’s speaking still…
my hands resting reverently upon the cover…
as a flood of emotions…
and memories…
pour from my eyes
she said it…
and I felt it…
at every single level…
from the surface of thought…
to the tiniest molecule tucked well out of sight…
like a spear of brilliant light
piercing a blanket of turbulent clouds…
out of nowhere, it hit me…
so unexpected…
I let it settle over my mind…
bringing momentary peace
our stories were vastly different…
but the result the same…
two damaged women…
scarred as children…
me at five…her at seven…
desperately seeking even a measure of healing
enough to function more fully…
in this world that sought to destroy us
we’ve never met…
we never will…
won’t be given that opportunity
her journey is over…
mine…still ongoing
I wish I could tell her…
how she reached in…
touching a wound still oozing
and slowed the flow
she did it…just…by being
but she was right…
her words ring painfully true…
it didn’t matter if they never realized what they knew…
they remembered me…
in that time and place…
and didn’t dispute my truth
offering sincere apology…
for what they didn’t do
do you see?
the gift they truly offered?
it was a validation of my reality…
do you understand?
let me try to explain…
though if you know…
you’ll already be nodding
to walk alone and unseen…
gazing into faces that refuse to meet my eyes…
constantly pleading…
but they don’t want to hear…
won’t get involved…
it’s not their problem…
no matter what I say…
they just want it to go away…
that’s the ultimate denial…
and it bears the weight of a thousand barbed anvils…
strapped tight to the spirit…
pressing down heavily…
crushing my very existence…
it’s a level of exhaustion I can’t even begin to define
but I simply have to keep going…
gotta continue trying
as I sat there…
letting the tears fall unimpeded…
I vowed to myself…
I will…not…ever…forget her…
though we never met…
she was me…
in another time and space
a sibling of Survival
Wow just wow.
🙏