Flood Waters

Flood Waters    5/30/2018 

They who rob

A child of dignity

Will reap a harvest

In hell. 

And they who

Shame the injured

Shall doubly dying

Scream out in pain. 

Even words can hurt

And no amount of soap

Can wash clean

The damage of shame

And rejection. 

This and more

Many suffer

So who am I

To complain? 

But I can only write

What it is I know

That feeling upon my head

Unmistakable

And unforgettable. 

We can either

Build each other up

Or we can tear

Us all apart 

Never knowing

All that might have been. 

She didn’t know all that I was

And she didn’t wait to try

Weighed, measured,

And hung out to dry. 

We had only just begun

But I was cut off

In the middle

Barely scratching the surface

Of all I could be.

And it was also then

That I was the wounded

Caught unaware

And cut in two.  

At my lowest moment

Mocked and provoked

As if some could gain pleasure

In cruelty

And suffering. 

I had only tried to save

While they sought to steal

Judged to be less

Than a  liar

And a thief.

Looking backwards

The words burned on the brain

I think about what it means

To lose or to gain. 

Head down and dying

We revisit the past

Always reminded

That we are less

And that we have lost. 

Every name

And every picture

Every post

And every thought. 

Deliberately erased

And forgotten

Abandoned by those
I loved and bathed. 

Who would do such a thing

Even to those they hated

Stripped of all dignity

And mired in shame. 

If a person must go

Than that is

What they do

But why would anyone

Humiliate and destroy. 

I paid the price

For others comfort

Taking on the burden

And obligations. 

Crushed under the weight

And left along the roadway

Nothing but a dirty tissue

Thrown out with the trash. 

But in time

We learn

And with living

We grow. 

Looking at the same day

From a million different angles

With the perspective of time

And prayer. 

Day in

And day out

Morning, noon,

And night.

Over and over gain

For what it seems like forever

The hours pass over

And the waters pass under.

Healing happens

But not in the way

I once thought

But slowly we see

And awaken. 

Everything has meaning

Even this

And even now

The test in and of itself

Growing us

From the inside out. 

I am free

Free to do anything

Unafraid of man

And all he thinks. 

Clean from guilt

And at peace with regret

All that I tried to save

And with all I lost. 

The Lord who set me free

Also is the judge

The last and the first to decide

Between anyone and me. 

Always there

With me under his wings

Lifting me up

At the just the perfect time. 

Loving me

When I hated myself

And healing every wound

Better than before. 

Soon enough

We will see

What it is that we felt

The truth bursting forth

In a rush of truth

And a flood of light.