WHEN THE END GREETS THE BEGINNING

This poem was written after terminating an abusive relationship

while finally achieving a feeling of safety. Through metaphorically

representing body parts and my “soul,” I tried to capture my

survival response deeply and profoundly. I also used the terror

and subjective feeling of trauma in a baby’s birth and the optimism

of having a whole life ahead of itself.

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’s 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 is 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

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