Healing Poem

Say you feel happiness is so close you could hold it
If only you didn’t get in the way.
Or maybe when it’s finally in your hands
A childhood ghost comes and slaps it down
Shattering, while another shakes its head and says: I knew it
I knew it
I told you --
This is what you are.

But what if there was a way
To sit the ghosts down in a circle of trust
And say to them: beloveds, there are no secrets here.
First they mock you. Then, they fight to leave
Then they tell you everything you’ve ever done wrong.
But eventually they tremble. Their eyes pool with tears.
They confess: all I wanted was to stop hurting.
And there, in the sanctity of confession, the alchemy of our souls’ light awakens,
And ghosts rise to the sky
And become the children of angels
And the evening sweetness grows.