This morning I received this poem – actually yesterday morning now – and I was struck by how the words seemed to speak not just to a lost romance but also to a future lost through trauma. I also want to say how loving, kind and genuine this young man is.
I know this isn’t a popular way to look at things – everyone always seem to want you to smile and ’see the bright side’ and move on from there. Move on from the ‘good place’ without really experiencing the bad. And I was wondering, when we experience grave trauma can life ever be the same again? Do we even want it to be? After all, we always talk of the experience we gain and that will shape us… Changes us?
Maybe, like with a romance gone sour, we have to find the strength to mourn our loss (wallow a little) and then, when we’re ready, get on and live our life. Our new life. The more shocking and devastating the loss, the longer this can take – five or ten years even. I believe that we have to mourn in order to live on. And to do that. we first have to accept that we’ve lost the person we were. And it can take a good few years for that to happen.
Here’s the poem, written by a beautiful young man who is several years post his catastrophic head injury and who is beginning to pick up the pieces and rebuild his life – very exciting!
Burned Out Candle
Burned Out Candle by Sunny Johal
I am tired and broken down.
One day i am going to get spilled over,
Slowly slowly I’ll forget about you,
The thought of you is in my blood,
Where ever I am, where ever I go,
The thought of you always lives there,
Slowly slowly I’ll forget you girl,
I’m a burned out candle and you are the light,
Slowly slowly I’ll forget you,
Happiness is long gone,
To win you over, I lost everything.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
A very lovely poem Sunny = thank you! What do you think? Julie
I believe that when you express yourself in a creative way you are working with consciousness/spirit and the energy filters through the unconscious mind, the conversation that is fear based. By expressing this way the body releases the frequency of fear/self sabotage/doubt (fill the space). The conscious mind is saying I want to get well, I won’t give up, I’m not my injury, I give myself the chance to hope, but the unconscious mind is saying its over, I hate myself, I want to die. This is all about knowing/truth. Creativity allows you to express these thoughts/feelings without the war. Its the war between what we think we are, and what we’re creating that prevents health. Its not always about love. Love/health is the outcome. We have to start with truth, even if that truth is I hate myself/all is lost.
Food for thought. Take care, Simon.