Shadows Of Despair Poem by Elizabeth Padillo Olesen

When colors are all grey and black
When shining lights turn gloomy and dark
When hope for now and the future
Is switched off by the violence of the past
Then the focal point on life's meaning
Grows dim to the eye of the beholder.

How necessary it is to rise up from despair
To see the blinding, dazzling colors and lights
To face the future with courage and not fear
To wrestle with pain and accept it is there
To see meaning in all that's happening
To lift up the face of despair as part of life.