130 - Recovering

Do you remember when TWA flight 800 exploded into the ocean? Four years ago this week, that disaster coincided with my own as I faced the beginning of a summer of crisis, hospitalization and recovery. I remember looking at the news reports, seeing the faces of three little girls who had been on their way to France. It was as if I, too, was falling into water. But I, alone, escaped.

One Hundred Thirty

Recovering

Gasping beneath this waterfall of illness,
Frozen limbs straining,
Lungs pushing against the crash,
Heart crying out with rapid beats.

Gasping, Sacred Healer, frantic
To whisper Your name,
To grasp blessing and power
And raise it above me in shelter.

Torrents overwhelm me,
Drown me in foaming water.
My hand moves, reaching, rising
To protect my face.

Turn to me, Holy One!
Turn back the blasting water,
The pain and sadness,
The shuddering of chances lost.

Turn to me, Sacred Healer!
Multiply my tiny motions
To bring my passage
To dry land.