Recognise

Recognise :  That I feel deeply

That I need love

That hurt and hatred and violence damage me

And that your lack of empathy burns me in the already tender raw places within.

Recognise : that the deep wounds of my soul and life led me here

To drowning in a pool of tears that is now an ocean and seems almost too deep that on certain days I fear it will drown me

To burning in a fire of rage that is one part resistance 99 parts the agony of having to witness yet again the shredding or decimation of love, empathy, support, togetherness, containment.

Recognise that I am not a failure but a success for having survived and for feeling this anger and sadness

Recognise please the courage it takes

To still go on

On the days that feel like fire and ice

Or like a blank barren wasteland that will entirely consume my soul

Recognise that my struggle comes not from any deficiency

But from being a human awake and alive on this planet

Where so much happens that is beyond my control