The Power of My Wound
Healing doesn’t happen all at once.
Sexual trauma runs too deep,
is much too complex for simple remedies.
We have no Star Trek sickbay
or magic tricorder
to bind up the wounds,
erase the battle scars.
And would we want to if we could?
Would we walk away,
pretend it never happened,
we were never assaulted
violated… hated… berated…
made to feel shame and doubt?
Could we ignore the very truth of what we
know was wrong… evil… the vilest of all?
Could we simply walk away
and cease to bear witness
for those who come after?
Or maybe for those violated before
our own innocence was vanquished
but are yet to heal at all?
If we could be healed completely
in an instant, in the blink
of a selfish, knowing eye…
But to do so meant leaving
our sisters, our friends,
our daughters, even strangers,
without the hope of #MeToo?
Could we? Should we?
Because to heal 100 percent
I think is to forget every ounce,
every moment, of
the pain and struggle.
And to forget is to lose compassion.
So perhaps it is worth the
ups and downs of scars
that appear healed but sometimes,
more often than we’d like, bleed tears
of understanding helping others
feel not so alone.
Often I pray for complete healing.
For years I prayed to forget.
But then I remember that
without my wound
I am not me.
Without my wound,
the scarring of my heart and soul,
I am powerless.
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To learn more about #MeToo and #WeToo, check out author Mary DeMuth’s website. She shares her wound to help others to heal. http://www.wetoo.org/preorder.
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Thank you for sharing your piece here Linda, and for putting yourself out there in your words! Evn our broken parts can serve others.
This is so piercingly tender and true:
“bleed tears
of understanding helping others
feel not so alone.”
And who we are is a gift, a light into the world of the healing and strength, a gift, showing to the world, and others coming after that survival, and even some degree of healing is a revolutionary act. So good. Thank you. This poem is more than 30 lines, so it would not be a candidate, but I am sure you would be strong voice for Sarah’s poetry call for a publication and display on womens voices in poetry. I don’t know if you saw this from her, but I think you would fit right in.
https://fmmewritespoems.wordpress.com/2019/07/29/poetry-call/
Thank you. I will check this out.
I am tryoing also to find something that will fit.
This is such an important thing… healing would mean forgetting, and somehow those scars will always be part of you, and maybe they can be used to protect others from being abuses.
I appreciate the perspective you have expressed here in such an open and moving write but also this is extremely insightful. Thank you for sharing this, Linda.