Angel of the night

Prompt for Poets United Rising above

I grew up in an protective environment and learned only later in life about people who are less fortunate . For example through the movie Once we were warriers I learned of lifes lived in terror.

In time, I came across some amazing people who worked with the most disadvantaged. I realised that some of the most dedicated people, were the ones who understood because they lived it. They worked tirelessly to make a difference, often with minor recognition. The transformation they went through, the difference they made, and the work they did and do is heroic and therefore I salute them.

I imagined what it means to be disadvantaged and how people would rise above

Angel of the night

She used to be the invisible one. 

An unexplored life, her head
bend down not to be seen
dragging through the miry clay

Born to parents who drowned their
demons in devil's water, squeezed
through their pores, evaporated into terror,
invading every space of her life as they

fed her with violence and profanities

touched her with shrewd knocks
looked at her with eyes spilling rage
dressed her in their garment of grudge

One day she sank in the depth of the eyes
of a soul, sensed the silence of an empty
vessel, screaming to be filled with love
A mirror for the little girl inside her

Her newfound empathy allowed

her, to offer her last grain of love,
which started growing in both
Initiating her to greatness

Slowly she ripped up and tore
down her restraining cast. Through
renewed lightness, picked up by
a gust of wind, she rose above her past.

Now she is holding space for
the souls haunted by shrieking
shadows, moving in slow speed, 
through stormy days

Building a warm nest for them
in places where the icy winds
sneak through the gaps, she
became an angel of the night