Savage Perfection Poem by ivory simone

There are times when we turn the corner of a busy street
to find ourselves ambling down an unfamiliar alley.

We are drawn there by primal forces, terrifying and unforgiving, to learn secrets hidden in the morrow of our bones.

With great violence we are bashed, pummeled, kicked and stomped until pounding pain and the taste of blood in our mouth is all we know.

It's a moment of savage perfection—the dizzying descent into the valley of unimaginable suffering; formed by the bodies of the multitudes of the afflicted.

In utter despair, we prepare to surrender to the great emptiness that accompanies longsuffering; it is a persistent suitor, waiting patiently to be invited in.

Only what escapes from our lips is a prayer, a prayer of thanksgiving for the journey that is life.

For it's at the point of profound brokenness we recall a simple truth:

Exquisite joy and exquisite pain are both pathways to God. One is not the lesser of the other.

As we embrace this truth, the great emptiness recedes. God's perfect will, a sweet and gentle rain, pours down upon us; bringing peace, bringing comfort.

And for some of us, left bloody in forgotten alleys—it brings healing; glorious, glorious healing.