Creative Process Promotes Hope For Trafficked Victim

"In the beginning God created..." Genesis 1:1

Somehow, it doesn't surprise me that a first sign of becoming healthy and whole again for a trafficked victim would come within the creative process. This is exactly what happened for Monica. The following poem conveys her courageous struggle as she makes a new beginning following her escape from human traffickers.  While the poem is not a direct translation, it  expresses her perceptions and sensations as she moves beyond the cycle of modern-day slavery and sexual abuse.

Forgiven Wind

I stand,

braced against forgiven wind,

 Layers of dirt

Slapped on me,

 by multitudes of unclean hands,

provide defense

against the Titanic Rain

beating on my path.

  Filth slides away

with my skin and

  I stand bloodied, exposed,

 braced against

forgiven wind.

 Icy hands I don’t feel

swipe at tears 

that aren’t there.

My Closed eyelids

hide darkness.


Then...

Hope flies in on forgiven wind.
She swoops down
  landing beside me,

She strokes

my breast.

I shove her away.

She reaches out again.

I seize her by the neck, 
 and slam her

to the ground.

She escapes,

grabs me around my chest
and slams me

 into ice packed earth. 
She straddles my broken body 
until

Tears escape my eyes.
Then,  

Her breath penetrates my flesh,

It slows my heart...
as

I lay motionless 
until...

 Sleep overtakes me.  

Night slips into morning,

Clouded by my future 
and 
my past.

Yet I wake…I rise…

 I stand,

 braced against forgiven wind,

a frozen body

 sheltering Hope’s song.