Heart Happy

Stephanie Anagnoson wrote the poem that I post here.  She posted it on Connection Well and I am so touched I asked to also place it here.

You can also read this poem and more of her writing at:  http://survivingtheworkday.com.

In her blog, Stephanie brings spirituality to the workplace.

She says in this poem what I thought, but was unable to articulate.

A Prayer to Benazir Bhutto

 

I shouldn’t have been shocked it happened.

I’m actually surprised Hillary Clinton is still alive.

But, even so, I started to cry

when I heard the news.

 

After years of self-imposed exile,

you returned to a country

with burgeoning Taliban power

only to feel three sharp slaps

to the neck and chest.

 

You were not a perfect hero,

far from it.

There were always corruption charges.

You spent years in jail.

But you were strong, female,

and weren’t letting the Crazies win.

 

Sometimes, Benazir, I wonder why God remains silent,

why he/she/it doesn’t just say something to the masses,

something like, “It’s love, not hate that I wanted you to make.”

And it doesn’t need to rhyme.

It just needs to be loud,

far reaching

and so deep that all of us feel it.

 

I was sixteen when you came to power as prime minister,

and I thought that even in the most conservative country,

a woman could lead.

Of course, I haven’t seen this first hand in the United States.

 

But what happened is what happens:

you’re smart, you’re female,

you get bitch slapped by some fundamentalist,

whose goal is to take you down and blow himself up.

Make no mistake: it’s not always a man that does the slapping.

 

   - Stephanie Anagnoson