Dreams of Tomorrow

By Dr. Tabitha N. Munyoki

At ten, she was a side-shoot wounded.

Absorbed by building walls, barrier zones

A childhood forgotten, buried deep under debris glued by silence

Preoccupied by sealing never the healing 

A willing of the soul to grow new and healthy

Amnesia soaked, her bones too brittle to carry the shame

Her own voice unbeknown to her, too foreign a concept

She dreamt of the luxury of a scream

At twenty, she was hounded by flashes of a tear stricken child

The past weighing on her shoulders, suffocating

A youth wasted, squandered in a tango with death,

Singing ever so seductively to her peace deprived soul,

Aching for numbness

Then, courage to learn a language of acceptance, 

A feeble attempt to stay afloat against the crashing waves

She dreamt of wings to soar

At thirty, she was holding space, Becoming 

The future beckoning, healing rain falling 

Womanhood redeemed, Invested in talking couches

Digging trenches of trauma, underwriting new foundations

Daring for forgiveness,the right to choose

Boldness in the showing up, in the trying again

Her reaching for joy, grounded in her light

She dreamt of freedom