A Lullaby

A spoken word for a friend who was going through a really tough time.

She’s built like the walls of Jericho- high and mighty,

I thought

I would never get close.

I tiptoed around her

for ages, poking my finger in her defenses, asking God to let her walls come down.

She goes through life with her hands clenched tightly, daring anyone to try to hold her fist,

life has been a revolving door of too many places and too many people,

but never the one she wants to stay,

so she planted her feet far from intimacy

and wrote pessimist on her name-tag.

I tried to whisper I was here to stay, we were written in the stars,

that she could let go of the world on her shoulders,

be free of the pieces of insanity she’s tried to bury,

make peace with who she’s come to be.

But when everything burned up in fire –

she wanted to live in the furnace,

as if the heat could baptize the guilt and the hurt away,

just her against the blaze.

But like sheddrach, I watched her only get licked by the flames.

I asked God if He could promise she’ll be out of the lion’s den,

for her to feel healed again.

For the storm in her heart to be the stillest of waters,

she’ll always float above the tears that threaten to drown her,

if he could help me hold the flood when she finally unbottles everything she could never say out loud.

God will you let her know you’re still there?

That there was always four footprints in the sand?

God will you make sure she feels loved?

That she’ll always have a place with us?

He told me that a friend’s happiness is a hard thing to carry,

but for Him, nothing will ever be too heavy,

instead He showed me that she’ll always be safe inside her mind,

he’ll be the fortress for her heart, her yoke will be made easy.

He said he’ll fill in the gaps in her family,

the pain might always linger but he’ll be the hum that is louder,

the music in her ear to set her soul at ease,

He’ll set the rhythm of her heartbeat,

He’ll sing the lullaby so she can sleep

and promises she’ll be safe

even from her dreams.

Image by Muhammadtaha