Strength

In the black of night 

the wind and rain 

slashed my car,

I gripped the steering wheel

and drove on. 

Not to escape the storm 

that seemed unending 

but to reach a city 

I did not know. 

Would the storm be there? 

Would I find welcome and shelter there?

In the morning, 

the great dome of the sky 

was clear and blue, 

the sun glistened the watered streets and buildings. 

That 40 years ago terror is but a memory

Today ~ the storm is closer, 

without wind, without rain 

but with the creep of age 

in these old bones

I grip the steering wheel of my soul ~

always a welcome shelter ~ and walk on.

“I can be changed by what happens to me. 

But I refuse to be reduced by it.”

~ Maya Angelou