After wrestling with my demons for 4 years of therapy I turned to meditation and Spiritual guidance. I came upon at least 2 books that recomended "closure rituals" as a way to put the past behind. This poem is the story of my closure ritual and the surprising outcome. May it inspire you to do the same, if needed.

Acknowledgment

I had dwelt upon my anger
Why had they been so mean?
How could I ever tell them
How frightening they did seem?

I tried to find the right words
For feelings held inside
Some way to simply say
All that I'd had to hide!

It was now time to express
The lessons I had learned
To show them the compassion
And forgiveness they had earned

I did this undertaking for
My parents and for me
So from a troubled past
I could finally be free

As I sat out in the sunshine
Calming nature all around
I wrote a letter to my folks
About the wisdom I had found

At first my little child cried out
She couldn't wait to vent
A lifetime of pain and loneliness
The heartache through which she went

But then the more adult me
Who had by now begun to heal
Stated her enlightened view
About a different way to feel

Regarding past behavior
A more mature understanding
Of events from long ago
Now a tribute could I sing

One day many months later
I knew the moment was right
The time for closure had arived
I never dreamt I'd feel so light

I laid my plan out carefully
Imagined all that I would do
Though the sky was dark and cloudy
To my needs I did stay true

At their gravesight near the fence
With a balloon that held my note
I repeated each and every word
As skyward I watched it float

The final words I said out loud
'Twas a testament to my love
A prayer that they'd both found
Peace and happiness up above

After I was several blocks away
I decided to look back
And much to my surprise I saw
That the sky was no longer black!

Instead over the cemetery
Twice as wide as it should be
Was a hole among the clouds
A special message just for me!

Beams of light were shining down
As I was overcome by awe
They had received my message
It was their answer that I saw!

They were telling me unmistakably
They were pleased with what I'd done
And even Spirit was overjoyed
That I had forgiven everyone!

Love
Pam

AMEN . Thank you for taking me along with you to see the opening!


What I enjoyed most about this was the reality, truth and spiritual ending in "Acknowledgment" .


You pieced this together the way it had been in your own very special poetic form. You captured something very special here.


Keep going Pam.

Write on ....so that others are inspired and encouraged
by you.


Love ,

Julie

It's so interesting for me, reading all your work again here, and knowing firsthand all the positive steps you've taken over the past several years. As they say, you've come a long way!!! And you've done it all yourself, even though you've had counselling and whatever help - you had to make the choice to seek help and healing, and it was absolutely the best choice you've ever made! I'm so glad to know you on this side of your healing journey; the you on the dark side of your life was struggling so hard for light it was painful even for me!!

You go girl!!! You have a lot to share with this world, and I'm praying you do get a poetry volume published in the near future!

Love and Big Hugs,

Alice

Maybe I feel I need to know the 'nitty gritty', but somehow I don't.............. This I think is the beauty of a poem ...... leaves one to consider options .... leaves one to reflect upon one's own circumstances. I try to do this in my 'story' poems, the reader must take a character or characters, take a situation and turn it on it's head, steer it, mould it, to one's own circumstances, they are not meant as literal.
Pam - such heartfelt poetry as yours - is not only inspiring - it is ,(as I've mentioned before), difficult to bring oneself to read. Whatever torments have blocked your path in life, you have eventually overcome them, they were major to you and you were major to them - I salute you Pam!

I think I understand what you're saying - my poems deal with very raw emotions. That's why I try to also include some Spiritual inspirations in them. I know that's what got ME through the hard times - even when I had turned my back on religion, I have always been spiritual.
I believe we all come to earth in order to learn something and the circumstances of our lives alows us to do just that. I have learned through meditation and an epiphany with Spirit that MY lesson was to learn about loneliness. Because I suffered in silence for most of my life my poems are now my voice - releasing all those secret feelings and trying to give hope to alll those also who suffer in silence.
Thanks for your candor and praise
Love
Pam