Lost Alone, Abandoned

Syllabic Poem| The Culminating 30

Lost

Alone

Left

Behind

For reasons

Unknown

Abandoned

Words unspoken

Unfinished

Caught in the rush

Of dark circumstance

Tearing apart

The cords of the heart

Breaking its tether loose

Drawn from rooted earth

That held us together

As mother and child once were

But no longer can be

Sacred has since been taken

Its center of gravity gone

And the oneness of our souls

Left to play solitary tones

Where harmonies were meant to be sung

Urgent hopes close hidden within

As we suffer our loss in silence

Unmerciful voices disturb us til

The spark reignites, reunites us again

We turn to the place true healing begins

—

Some of the strongest images to come to me in the War in Ukraine were of the separation of mothers from their children. Through no fault of their own, they were torn apart. Some of these would be temporary separations, others permanent, still others unknown. All are very difficult.

It got me thinking about abandonment and loss, and that it comes in so many ways. Almost always at its root is a wound of some kind. Sometimes, as in the war, it is the grim reality of circumstances that lie out of our reach. But this loss can also come through physical, mental, or spiritual trauma within persons and families.

I cannot pretend to understand these things very well: which situation might be worse than others, how these wounds are individually inflicted, endured and eventually healed (when they are). Each experience is personal and unique.

My only hope is that the sense of abandonment will be one day lifted, and that peace and love might fill its place in the lives of those who have experienced it.

Possibly writing about this loss and acknowledging it can be a small part of that healing.

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Thank you for taking the time to read!

Copyright © 2022, Robert G. Metivier. All Rights Reserved.

Image: Copyright © 2022, Moh’d Bilbeisi. All Rights Reserved.

Thank you Moh’d for your brilliant collaboration!

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Originally published on Substack on 4.4.22