Remember this
My tender and wounded friend
You were innocent and free
When you arrived here

Because that is your true nature

Everything else, all the guilt and shame,
The self berating, the hurt, the rage,
Are learned and taught
By those who carried their own lost innocence
And knew no better
Brought up in toxic culture

Generation upon generation
Of walking wounded
Handing on trauma, passing it down
Desperate for healing
Yet unable to stop

Until now, until you
You who have eyes to see
Ears to hear
And a heart open enough
To understand
How it all happens
And to put an end to the endless story

It feels personal
But it’s not personal
Every story has a personal element to it
But when you see that your story
Is everyone’s story
Your suffering is everyone’s suffering
It’s not worse or better
But it’s different
When you see that and really feel it
Your heart and mind open so wide
The whole world pours in
AND YOU BECOME A HEALER
Through simple compassion
And the pain doesn’t go away
But it becomes more bearable
Because you see yourself in everyone
And everything

And you remember the innocence
You arrived with
And you become that innocence once again
And yet there is no naivety in this innocence

This is the innocence that includes life
That includes life’s wounds and experience
But hasn’t become bitter or resigned and rageful
This is the innocence that includes everything
Yet stays true to it’s nature

So please, I beg you, turn towards
That place in yourself
And, through great introspection and softness,
Find that light within,
Burning quietly and patiently,
Waiting for eternity
For your return.