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Connecting with a Higher Power
Experiences on the Spiritual Path

Aftermath  a poem by Jerry Terranova

aftermath
 
lord, i know what's going on ... it's painful to watch.. .your will.
 
all falling down now,
 
your will, all around us, your will... balance achieved, dry root exposed, my heart bleeds but is angry.
 
it sees and it knows, petty grievances no more, from my heart now, the picture is so big; one wave, i produce one wave.
 
i see it clearly and it hurts.
 
i laugh with others get angry with others expose the rot to others but i am alone with this pain
because i know it is your heart that is bleeding.
 
law and order from without,
 
contain what we can 't control, face.
 
i'm alone with this but i see so clearly because it is my own humanity.
 
higher level, higher ground
here at one with you.
 
all must fall down before it can be reborn in your light.
 
you told us, you did. we didn't hear or heed.
we were hypnotized.

 
but here you are today, so bold, so here, this only love and you are winning.
 
so let us play our war-torn games.
 
the battle with self still waits.
the terror is within, the energy is within.
 
but i'm safe right now, so safe in your love, so warm, so protected.
 
love is all around us because you told us this would come.
 
but this too will pass, the awakening.
 

From Praxis, Volume 2, Fall 1992 (c) Jerry Terranova 1992. Reprinted by permission of Jerry Terranova.
 
Jerry Terranova is a long-term aids survivor, writer and teacher, who died in June 1998. We remember and honor you, Jerry, for your love, wisdom, courage, generosity, and deep, passionate caring.

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