Poetry
The Wounded Child In All Of Us
Coming face-to-face with our brokenness.
There is a wounded child in all of us. There was no way to travel from childhood to adulthood without being wounded. It doesn’t matter if a child is loved and cherished by both parents. The simple task of growing older and becoming more of an individual requires a separation which is a wounding. Some children are more wounded than others. I was one of those children. Like the child pictured above, I literally hid and cowered.
That wounded child is still within me, hopefully realising that it is much safer for him now. This poem was written for him, as well as for all the wounded children in all of us.
Hidden in depths and darkness, a child cowers eyes looking out at the world, always seeing ghosts and demons hidden behind so many masks, so many layers of half-truths.
The child is a night child hidden in the darkness tentatively responsive to the faint light a child knowing another world where others live, a world of smiles and light.
Tired with too many years of denial, the weight of too many masks and disguises, the barrier between that inner child and the sunshine of a world begins to crack.
A strange ray of warmth begins thawing the barrier, bringing light into darkness inviting this frightened child to re-emerge into that outer world and heal.
I want to recommend the following poets and their poems for your reading pleasure: