for the Together We Heal writing group
on the winter solstice, 2023

•••

Heads bowed, bodies stilled,
it looks as if we’re doing nothing,
when, actually, so much courses
through us like snowmelt over
rocks, making its way down,
down, down.

Not wanting to go there, we
find ourselves amid rapids,
a little fearful of what we might
find, not wanting to tumble over
the rough bits, to scrape paper-thin
skin on unseen rocks, to dredge up
what we’ve so carefully buried.

But in the depths there’s more
than dark, more than sorrow
and loss and great gulps of pain—
the scariest things with no names.

Together we write; the page
can take it all—the hurt, the rage,
the ugly parts we’ve worked
hard to keep hidden.

As the letters form on the page,
the worst of the worst begins
to melt, to run downstream
away from us, whispering
as it goes:

Even on the longest night,
so much good lies ahead.
You are safe. You are held.
Tomorrow you will see
more light.