Since moving to Dallas, I have lost my face to face processing. I have been writing. A lot. I wrote this shortly after seeing Les Miserables a few months ago. I thought I would share it today.
I recently saw Les Miserables for the first time. I sat in
the theater weeping during Anne Hathaway's I dreamed a dream scene. Her
character, a single mother, is fired unjustly from her job. Being a single
mother with no means she does what she has to in order to provide for her
daughter.
I could not help but see the mothers we walk with in her,
onscreen I watched as Ann sold her hair, her teeth, her possessions; witnessing
the raping of her innocence and body through prostitution. In my mind I saw the
pleading eyes, the cries of the vulnerable, the scars on her arms, the bruises
on the others thighs, seeing through their explanations, so desperately wanting
to hide in the embarrassment and shame of the hell they are living.
The women I meet through work live in a perpetual state of
crisis of a life on a downward spiral, living under a shroud of shame and
embarrassment. One day they were young in spirit and vibrant, they dreamed a
dream. Their lives twisted into a downward spiral of circumstances and
regretful choices that leads to isolation and the devaluation of their lives.
These beautiful hearts of broken women share their deepest
darkest secrets, they share their greatest failures, and they expect judgment
and condemnation. Rarely am I able to meet these expectations, I willingly
offer my hand to hold, walking with them into the embrace of a community that
will love them just as they are offering the hope to dream again.
There was a time when
men were kind
When their voices were soft
And their words inviting
There was a time when love was blind
And the world was a song
And the song was exciting
There was a time
Then it all went wrong
I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted
But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
As they turn your dream to shame
He slept a summer by my side
He filled my days with endless wonder
He took my childhood in his stride
But he was gone when autumn came
And still I dream he'll come to me
That we will live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather
I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.
When their voices were soft
And their words inviting
There was a time when love was blind
And the world was a song
And the song was exciting
There was a time
Then it all went wrong
I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
Then I was young and unafraid
And dreams were made and used and wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung, no wine untasted
But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hope apart
As they turn your dream to shame
He slept a summer by my side
He filled my days with endless wonder
He took my childhood in his stride
But he was gone when autumn came
And still I dream he'll come to me
That we will live the years together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms we cannot weather
I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living
So different now from what it seemed
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed.