Living through...
Breath and blood
Francesco Foschi (Ancona, 1710 - Rome, 1780) Attributable Winter landscape
Stockholm Syndrome
I don’t live in Stockholm, not that I ever did.
The diaphanous, blanched flakes,
Blinding me as we coursed thru the cooling drifts.
I don’t yearn for Stockholm like I once did.
Thinking freedom reigned there.
My wanting unencumbered by truth and drudgery,
I painted only poesy.
And lifted you high above the fjords, as if on display,
Your breastplate and stolid horns, erect shafts,
Piercing the sunless day.
I haven’t dreamed of Stockholm
Since you stormed from the chalet.
The door to that domicile is locked,
And the snow has blown away.
Stockholm Syndrome was originally written after the death of my mother, and in relation to a very complicated situation, and like many survivors, my ability to get through it. Rereading it now, I realize that while it may be pertinent to me, it may also be to others. Given that the details are not specific, I hope it provides some measure of comfort that there are others who will be there for you as you work on finding some level of peace.
Hammer of God, Copyright © 2018 Aria Ligi, Poetic Justice Books, and Amazon
Aria Ligi has written a poem that uses “breastplate” as a metaphor for a coping mechanism individuals develop to deal with trauma. Ligi’s breastplate in verse, her poem Stockholm Syndrome, is a means to protect the heart from dying after it has been wounded by some trauma. Ligi’s poem exudes an optimism that each and every one of us who have experienced abuse can transcend that abuse and heal, perhaps by making peace first with ourselves and with those who have hurt us in some way. The poem rains down upon us a powerful tone of restorative humanity that forgives the past as it energizes the human soul to live as fully a life as is possible in the present.
Powerful and poignant. I connect with it, though our experiences are different