Courage

I have lost something, something that meant more than the world to me. It was the thing I cherised most and now I will never again feel the joy of being a part of it, of having it near me - just doing what it did best. It was taken from me and now I have nothing but the taste of ash in my mouth and the bitter tears of an alien - thrust into strange newness and yearning for home. I have become one without, an outsider to my joy.

I want nothing more than to clutch the pain close, to rock and moan, to shed tears for my lack. I want to wallow in the pain - to feel it forever as a reminder that I have been scarred. But there is a deeper lesson, just below the pain - there is a glimmer of a future lived in wholeness. I can see it sparkle, just an arm's reach away.

Give me the strength to take it in hand.