I saw this line from a poem in the book I was reading and googled it to find its origin. It’s from a poem titled, “Lilacs In September” by Katha Pollitt. Here is what stopped me in my tracks:
What will unleash itself in you when your storm comes?
I thought about the recent disturbances in my atmosphere: the death of my mother, my vision loss, my husband’s cardiac crisis, the sudden death of my father-in-law. There was no warning for any of these events, no time to hang shutters, stack sandbags or head for the storm cellar. I didn’t know in one instance the power would go out in my optic nerves and all would be dark. If I had been alerted and prepared even flashlights would not have helped. They all came quickly and were gone just as fast, leaving us standing in the debris, blinking, confused, asking, “What the hell just happened?“
I think that I had all the normal reactions in each case: anger, sorrow, shock, strength, weakness, denial, grief, gratitude for what was still standing. Survival mode kicked in as speedily as all four storms and the fight to move through it and forward was a prevailing response. “Unleash” is the perfect word and probably what most caught my attention in the poem’s line. I have seen many a dog in that split second when they are released from their tether and their natural instinct detonates.
In the same way we are unable to predict the storms in our lives, we can’t know for sure what will unleash in us. And short of an Anderson Cooper or a Jim Cantore here to report on the effects of these events, the people around us are the ones to tell the tale of what we became in the eye of the storm and the ensuing days, weeks, months and even years. I hope that they would say grace and perseverance, that I never gave up. And a little blog at SisterRain.net.