I don’t know how this ends,
don’t know how we can go back
to being as we were,
don’t know, either,
if there’s enough of a way forward
to see us through the fire

And I don’t want us to pass through
without being transformed –
crucible purified, phoenix transfigured,
rising out of the ashes
with nothing of our former bondage,
chains gone, rags burnt away,
so the shining truth of us
stands clear.

©Wendy Mulhern
May 2, 2020