By Ross Rosenberg, M.Ed, LCPC, CADC
Psychotherapist, Author, Educator, Expert Witness
I wrote this twenty years ago, when I had hit what I thought was the bottom of my life. The poem helped me put into words the trauma i had endured while in a relationship with a very abusive woman. It served as a catalyst to understand and eventually heal the highly traumatic abuse I had endured.
Although the trauma of the relationship seemed to have ended, the impact of it was embedded in my psyche. Writing the poem helped release some of this toxic energy welling up inside of me. Writing it also helped me create a clear boundary from where I was and where I needed to go.
When The End Greets the Beginning
The Fist clenched, balled tight
Waving high in the sky
Like a tattered flag of war
Firmly declaring the message of hard fought freedom
The Arm stretched higher than its length
Wanting to go even higher
But held back by its physical limitations
Desiring to support the rage of its neighbor hand
The Body tense with anxious exhilaration
Energized by the wave of spontaneous emotion
Reacting – wanting to release
Neither knowing nor understanding the electric energy
The Mind, racing with scenes of the past
Remembering the torrent of pain
Memories frozen in time – razor sharp
Unable to understand, but finally able to feel
The Heart embattled and tired
Once protected by walls made of carefully controlled rage
Cracking, crumbling, disintegrating under their own volition
Heralding the light to pass through
The Soul, confused and bewildered
Like the newborn’s terror at birth
Interpreting the beginning as the end of safety
But all the while willing to open his eyes and greet what lies ahead
Ross Rosenberg
9/22/97
For more information about Ross’s resources, seminars and workshops, write us at help@selfloverecovery.com or visit Self-Love Recovery Institute.
