A CHANGE WAS BOUND TO COME

A change was bound to come
I emerged from the cumbersome cocoon
Where I knew only darkness, aloneness
Wrestling with the change
Wanting it yet not believing it possible

I shed the heavy winter coat
That oppression, suppression, restriction, obstruction
And I began to dance
Lighter, happier, faster, freer
For the first time in a very long time I felt
Stimulation, revelation, escalation, jubilation

My shackles fell away
As I shed my old skin
And stepped into the light
After so long in the shadows
Where I watched
Unable to speak my mind, unable to walk alone, unable to be me

My soul bears the scars of friendly fire
Inflicted by the very band of brothers
For whom I have shed spiritual blood
Even as they were hiding their skeletons in closets
And asking for my loyalty in keeping their secrets

I was haunted by their lies about me
In an attempt to nullify my existence
All under the guise of concern
Yet attempting to insure and expedite my eternal leave-taking
But in my darkest hours I clung to shreds of my sanity

I looked upon them as enigmas
Souls bound for hell
While grasping at the hem of the Savior's garments
They came at me like a wild pack of devil dogs
Growling, snarling, biting, fighting
Over a miniscule morsel of self-assigned authority

Now I find myself turning my back
And walking away into an unknown horizon
It has been a long time coming
But a change has finally come
Every drop of compassion for them
Has been wrung from my heart
@Joanne Kennedy 2011

CIRCUS ELEPHANTS

I feel such sorrow for circus elephants
Treated inhumanely and disrespectfully
So magnificent and intelligent
Yet forced to performed a mundane and unnatural routine daily
Their freedom and homeland stripped from them

I empathize with the restrained pachyderms
Who are driven to their breaking point and disobey
Running, fleeing their bondage--hoping to escape back to their roots
Only to suffer the consequences of a most certain death sentence

Perhaps they have weighed the consequences
And decided that death is more inviting than
Just existing in a concrete jungle
While they dream of wide open places, lush foliage--
The endemic homeland from which some were captured and enslaved

I sort of felt like a circus elephant might feel
When my mother was taken away
And I was at a loss to stop my sisters
Who had gone behind my back and set a plot in motion
To move my elderly mother with dementia away from me

I hurried from one to another desperate for answers
Yet getting nothing but disrespect, hostility, threats and mayhem
I was the butt of their evil, selfish scheme
But an elephant never forgets...
@Joanne Kennedy 2011