Starting Over - Fighting Back

And so we must begin to live again,

We of the damaged bodies

And assaulted minds.

Starting from scratch with the rubble of our lives

And picking up the dust

Of dreams once dreamt.

 

And we stand there, naked in our vulnerability,

Proud of starting over, fighting back,

But full of weak humility

At the awesomeness of the task.

 

We, without a future,

Safe, define, delivered

Now salute you God.

Knowing that nothing is safe,

Secure, inviolable here.

Except you,

And even that eludes our minds at times.

And we hate you

As we love you,

And our anger is as strong

As our pain,

Our grief is deep as oceans,

And our need as great as mountains.

 

So, as we take our first few steps forward

Into the abyss of the future,

We would pray for

Courage to go places for the first time

And just be there.

Courage to become what we have

Not been before

And accept it,

And bravery to look deep

Within our souls to find

New ways.

 

We did not want it easy God,

But we did not contemplate

That it would be quite this hard,

This long, this lonely.

 

So, if we are to be turned inside out,

And upside down,

With even our pockets shaken,

Just to check what’s rattling

And left behind,

We pray that you will keep faith with us,

And we with you,

Holding out hands as we weep,

Giving us strength to continue,

And showing us beacons

Along the way

To becoming new.

 

We are not fighting you God,

Even if it feels like it,

But we need your help and company,

As we struggle on.

Fighting back

And starting over.

 

Poem by Anna McKenzie