Page 28 - A Qualified Acceptance of Sorrow

now they felt
in their inward parts, the misery
the rage

the unrelenting devastation
that they had inflicted
on God’s beloved children

and the cross continued to burn ...

Only after their psyches have explored
each memory of each cell of each person’s suffering
will they move through that purifying fire, and be reborn.

7.
And I was ashamed
knowing that the physical pain
was only a part of it ...

We came to a school, walls scarred
by bullets, doors chained shut,
patrolled by the self-deceived

who struggled to stand, burdened
with the humiliations they had
imposed on children

with uncaring ease; aching now
with the brutality they’d offered
instead of kindness.

Their only drink, tears –
their food, earthen cakes
formed of dust, spit, and bitter herbs.

Locked out of washrooms
labelled not by gender but
by character, “The Compassionate,”

they stood,
embarrassed by natural urges,
still uncomprehending …

And though my companion