Poem About Light

The “In the News” section of this web-site is dedicated to bring only positive news to its readers. Yesterday I attended an event at Reading Hospital School of Health Sciences. The event was presented by Berks Women in Crisis. It was called, “An Empty Place at the Table” which in essence is a memorial for all those lost to domestic violence in Berks County. It is a public awareness tool that puts a face and personality on the 'mere names' one reads about in the newspaper.It is open to the public and attended by the friends and family members of those victims and provides continuing support. I think most people know that Berks Women in Crisis is there to help during an emergency, but I think little attention is given to the unending support this agency provides long after the initial trauma. It takes very special and dedicated people to do this.

So how do you turn someone’s child being murdered into something positive? It seems hard to believe that someone could pull themselves up after experiencing such a loss. Kathleen Sheeder Bonanno lost her daughter in 2003 to an act of domestic violence. She has experienced all the stages of grief and has eloquently expressed her pain, sorrow, and growth in a book called, “Slamming Open the Door.” The book is a collection of poems recollecting each of the processes she has gone through. I recommend that you read the entire book which can be purchased on Amazon.com to fully appreciate the following poem. This poem is the answer too my question.

Poem About Light

You can try to strangle light:
use your hands and think you’ve found the throat of it,
but you haven’t.
You could use a rope or a garrote
or a telephone cord,
but the light, amorphous, implacable
will fool you in the end.

You could make it your mission to
shut it out forever,
to crouch into the dark,
the blinds pulled tight-

Still, in the morning
a gleaming little ray will betray you, poking
its optimistic finger
through a corner of the blind,
and then more light,
clever, nervy, impossible,
spilling out from the crevices
warming the shade.

This is a stubborn sun,
choosing to rise,
like it did yesterday,
like it will tomorrow.
You have nothing to do with it.
The sun will make its own history;
light has its way.

Copyright 2009