There is ~ No Way ~ Except the Way

 

This morning I awakened with the sunlight beaming through our window, I immediately became aware of everyone who is suffering.
In our area of Nebraska, the floodwaters are impinging into personal lives with a fury. It will be the end of a particular way of life for those who have been devastated by the raging and destructive waters. The earth is groaning through its convulsive land shifts as levees burst under pressure and the rain representing how the sky is weeping in deep sorrow for all the suffering in our area and our world at large.

Then, more personally, there are those who are undergoing hidden distress in a way that is not obvious to others. My sister-in-law is grieving the unforeseen loss of her grandson, the young man she raised for 18 years. Another, a confidante, who has been impacted by injustice through the legal system. Another, business connection, who has been patiently nursing her husband back to health for several years. The suffering is relentless, and no one is immune. I could continue with “another and another,” as I am a mental health therapist by vocation and an empath by design. I bear with those who are suffering. As I consider the suffering, a spontaneous poem emerged this morning, and I want to share it with you:

There is ~ No Way ~ Except the Way

I too,
know the shock
and grief of loss
when facing forces larger than myself

It is an end.

And then

A beginning

A beginning is thrust upon me
beckoning me
to go
where I never wanted to go

No way

There is no way to hold on
to what is past
what once
was solid ground
is now flooded with muddy water

No way

There is no way
to my dreams now
Except the way
Except the way my feet could take me

No way

There is no way
to rely upon old paradigms
that could not
endure with me

No way

There is no way
to walk the former path
that brought me here
to this place

All that is left of me
will walk on
to what is before me

Crystal Anzalone
March 18, 2019