STARTING OVER

Once,

When she was 15 she left home.

Legally emancipated.

She made her way in the world

Because her mom used to place her and her brother

In the bathtub

And hit them with a hairbrush.

Another time,

Her daughter was kidnapped

When she was 10 years old,

She was never found.

But she carried on

Looking for her after everyone else had moved on.

Or another time,

She was swallowed up by depression,

Her husband moved on

And so she tried to too.

But it was like climbing in quicksand,

A few steps up

And back at the bottom again

Wondering why?

Does God exist?

Do we have a soul?

She never stopped believing

In something else.

Spirit.

Made manifest everyday,

In the getting up

And starting over.