Love, Longing, and Loss

Intimate relationships troubled by abuse and violence are like tunnels that we sometimes enter unwittingly, usually when we are happily in love, but no matter how much we may love our abusive partner sooner or later we enter a dark tunnel of despair. Sometimes we hold on to small shreds of hope that things will get better, but when? The thing is, once we find ourselves in the dark passage of abuse we often lose sight of the light streaming in through the other end. Indeed, we forget...
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Intimate relationships troubled by abuse and violence are like tunnels that we sometimes enter unwittingly, usually when we are happily in love, but no matter how much we may love our abusive partner sooner or later we enter a dark tunnel of despair. Sometimes we hold on to small shreds of hope that things will get better, but when? The thing is, once we find ourselves in the dark passage of abuse we often lose sight of the light streaming in through the other end. Indeed, we forget that there is light on the other side of darkness, that there is recovery on the other side of abuse. But we must have the courage to drive through the dark tunnel, as it were, into that light, into the place of healing. As we look ahead with the little hope we have left falling apart, we look back with longing and remorse, recalling the bliss of falling in love, of building a life together with our loved one, and perhaps having a family. The excitement of loving our partner is still palpable; and if we chose to marry, our wedding vows to love, honor, and cherish each other till death do us part-we recall-was a reflection of our intent to physically and spiritually manifest a lifelong commitment to our soul mate. What went wrong?The poetry on these pages is raw and transparent. Each poem chronicles love, longing, and desire from the perspective of a survivor of abuse. It is a thought-provoking, inspirational poetic narrative of a person who, although caught in a tunnel of abuse and violence, chose not to remain stuck but had the courage to look to the light of forgiveness and healing ahead.