This poem really touched me deeply. As a therapist who works with adults traumatized as children, this is a paean to the promise of recovery in adulthood. The poem itself is exquisitely written as well.
Who Am I?
Identity in crisis, I feel lost
Confusion reigns as childhood truths change form
Disintegrate as barriers are crossed
And old horizons, stretched, create new norms
Beliefs I’ve held for years emerge as lies
Distorted falsehoods firmly posed as fact
Still trouble me and need to be revised
To help me hold my mental health intact
But somehow I feel stronger in my soul
Perhaps I’m not as lost as first believed
More wounded needing healing to be whole
Than broken needing fixed – I feel relieved
No longer guilt-fed child who cannot cope
This careworn woman filled with future hope…
