Herculean Strength

You not only lack
The Herculean strength
To get through
What I’ve been through
You lack the wherewithal
To even hear about it

Compelling you
To blame me for it

So much easier
Than recognizing the many forces
Outside our control
Which have the power
To wreck us crush us break us

So much easier
To relate to the alcoholic
Or drug addict
Who succumbed
As you would have done
Than to recognize
The options for transcendence
And transformation
Which require taking responsibility
Facing your fears and hurts
Head on
Staring down your demons
Slaying them with your sword
Risking dying
In the process of going to battle

No you prefer
To prostrate yourself
Before the arbitrary rules and false limitations
That others have created
And to judge me
By their confines
Adding insult to injury
Making it that much harder
For me
To rise up again

©2016 by Loolwa Khazzoom. All rights reserved. No portion of this article may be copied without author’s permission