Resilient, Sunshine
Words become us
Dear readers, I’m taking some time off to step away from the digital world, reconnect with live human beings, and commune with some mountains. I’ll return in August, recharged and ready to dive back in.
Thank you, as always, for your kind support of my work — this community, though virtual, is a true blessing and lifeline in my life.
xox
Mary
Resilient, Sunshine
My mother told me
I was resilient, long before
she tried to kill herself;
she told me I was bright
like sunshine, long before
she went dark;
she gave me those words—
resilient, sunshine,
pressed them into my palms
like talismans of truth
or a pen
to spell my being into reality,
endowed with her belief.
Words become wars,
become a path to peace,
become lifelines,
become food.
Words become us.
My mother could not have known
she was giving me the answers
ahead of time—
I am resilient,
I am sunshine.
—to the test that she
herself would be,
one biting cold December day.
You who read these words
can do the same, I say.
Speak the words they’ll need someday,
the answer to a suffering.
Their palms await.
It’s simpler than you might imagine, love:
just tell the truth.
I’m doing it, right now.
A beautiful poem, Mary. I love the image of pressing words into palms, like a talisman. Something we can hold onto, to grasp— that becomes part of us, like a fingerprint. Sunshine and resilience—light filled words to take with us into these lovely July days.
Thank you for your courage and inspiration Mary, love your words as always. I too have come to love this virtual community - it started as a place where I could express and share some thoughts, but through people like your good self, it has become more than that.
"To hold a pen is to be at war" Voltaire.
See you in August!