Shadows To Sunshine (Wishful Thinking) Poem by Tor Magnor Solvang

For sixteen months he's lived alone,
An exile from his wife and home.
His bitter words and drinking tore
The life they shared for years before.

Although rehab's done and drinking's ceased,
His heavy guilt is not released.
She loves him still, but fears the pain;
Her broken trust is hard to gain.

He sat alone beneath the shade,
Where heavy, bitter memories stayed.
The crushing weight of guilt and loss
Had left his spirit tempest-tossed.

He poured the toxic ache away,
And chose to face the breaking day.
Then laughter echoes through the yard,
To pierce a heart so bruised and scarred.

The heavy silence starts to clear,
As a stray ball bounces very close.
From the grandson that he holds so dear.
His twin sister suddenly bounds ahead,
Following where the toy has led.

Looking up, they see him there,
Silver lines of age and care.
Smiling up, so sweet and wild,
With the grace of every loving child.

As he hands the toy right up and back,
Light breaks through the heavy black.
Though his grief is far from done,
At last he feels the warming sun.

No matter what the shadows cast,
He will not bend, he will not break.
He turned his back upon the past,
For love, and truth, and healing's sake.

Beyond the glass, she's watches close,
The gentle man she loves the most.
She sees him change, she sees him try,
With softened words and a sober eye.

The wall between them starts to fall,
As healing comes to heal them all.
A tiny spark of trust is born,
To warm the coldness of the morn'.


T.M. Solvang