poems
CHERYL'S PRAYER

My Prayer

I pray that, One Day
All children will sleep soundly and shed no tears
I pray that, One Day
Women will know respect instead of fear
I pray that, One Day
The greed, avarice and violence of man will dissipate
I pray that, One Day
Love will replace the all consuming hate

No-one can know the deep, ravaging, damage done to the psyche - unless they too have been raped. No-one can know the long-term, immobilising self-loathing - unless they too have been raped. No-one can feel the mind-numbing, lingering fear - unless they too have been raped. Empathy, vicarious emotion, compassion, sympathy, therapy all help but they don't actually heal. The healing takes a lifetime of digging deep, of reforming one's own self-esteem, of learning self-forgiveness and forgiveness, of reparenting the child within and constantly feeding one's self daily affirmations that we were/are not to blame. We were "mere vessels" for someone else's illness.

Cheryl, May 2000

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