A Poem To My Family Of Origin….By Sister Pavitra
You may have stolen my childhood
Crushed my innocence and smeared my soul
You may still think you’re better than me
And perhaps you have some advantages, all told
But you cannot stop me from living my life
Yes, you may try to steal more away
You may hunt me, pursue me, stalk me
You may still think of me as your prey
But I can still smell the roses in my garden
I can still enjoy the laughter of a child
I can still grow my hair long as I like
I can still keep things away from you, undefiled
The core of my soul is not yours to keep
You never locked it away in a cage
No, instead you fueled a will to fight
I will never again let you have center stage
You don’t define who I say I am now
Your labels are not mine to keep
I don’t spend my days cowering in fear
And at night, I refuse to weep
The scars from what you did still linger
I still carry the wounds in my heart
The nightmares still come, you’re still in my head
But the paralysis is now stopped, before it can
start
You want revenge now that I’ve told
You want my head for telling the truth
Give it your best, strike with your venom
For to me, your vindictiveness is only more proof
You cannot keep looking so good
You cannot keep spinning your lies
Not without stepping in your own foul stench
Not without opening everyone else’s eyes
You can’t stop me from having my life
You can’t stop me from enjoying the sun
You can’t take away my bond with the Lord
You can’t undo the Blood of the Son
You could undermine all that I own
Throw me and my family out on the street
But I am strong, and God is on my side
I can rebuild with His path at my feet
For you may have beaten me before, but I’m not dead
And that is the greatest irony of all
In that while you did all you could to bring me down
I grew to stand firm, rather than fall
So bray like the stubborn mules that you are
God’s got me in the palm of His hand
I can still smile no matter what you do
For His strength and glory is all I need to make
life grand.