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Thursday 9 October 2014

Broken Winged Bird

I woke yesterday morning in the dark. Around me was an ominous and oppressive feeling of grief. It filled my lungs so quickly that I could not even scream out, I was drowning on sorrow.

There was this most awful realisation, one that I avoid contemplating too deeply most days, that the world is beyond the glass and stuck behind it, I am trapped like a wounded bird. My wings are broken and my flock has flown away. The loneliness in my heart aches so deeply I wish I could cradle it and whisper to it that you are not alone and you are loved, but it cannot hear me and it does not feel what my head is attempting to persuade it to believe.

Over the last few months I have experienced some of the hardest times in my life. And the anchors that hold me together, my friends online, my healthy friends, I have mostly been unable to manage connecting with. I am too fragile, too consumed by fighting to exist. Every single moment is a struggle, every breath a weighted heavy sigh, every step a painful uncoordinated dragging limb, every fall into paralysis another inch closer to permanency, every seizure more painful, every bronchial spasm more brain starving and every reaction to chemicals a gamble on anaphalaxys.

I have been fortunate to have medical gurus in my journey. But I am now alone on my travels. Only one left an unhealing festering sore, the doctor whom promised me a life and then told me dispassionately that I should tie up loose ends, write a will and seek out palliative care. The other doctors have been my stewards but obstacles have meant that I am now mostly without them and in this moment, this moment of grave illness, this moment when I am so terrified I cannot breathe, in this moment where my eyes leak as my body mourns the loss of all my safety nets, in this moment of utter vulnerability, I find myself alone.


There is so much to carry, so much to learn and I cannot walk nor can I find answers. My brain is unwilling. This broken winged bird has thrown herself against the glass too many times, breaking more tiny bones and finding only again and again that I cannot will the world to shape itself into how I wish it to be. In this second decade of fighting, failing and picking myself up day after day, I find the dark more and more inviting.

We travelled to the hospital not so long ago, they looked upon me as though I was nothing, they endangered my life, they withheld my medication and they ignored my pleas for help. One of the doctors, just one of the very many who looked upon me was kind, the rest ignored my very obvious, very grave, very dangerous symptoms and history with a cult like investment in the bland paradigm that allows them to behave so inappropriately within a severely deficient system.


How does a broken winged bird stuck behind the glass, drowning in sorrow and grief get help? How does she find hope that has buried itself so deep within her soul that even her eyes look haunted by the loss of it? How does she uncover a reason, even one, to keep fighting? Because she's been on an excavation, picking over the ruins of her life trying to keep the dazzling, bright and shiny moments in focus, but they have all faded to grey and resettled themselves amongst the rubble.

Banality tinged with torture, judgement for her imperfect grace, she cannot carry this load alone. But she is not alone, I wish she could hear me. I wish her heart would feel the messages of love that come from the world, through the glass, even if she can't hear them.

Broken winged bird, I wish I could promise her a better tomorrow, and yet I cannot bring myself to lie to her. So I must let her fall down, drag her broken body into a dark corner and lose herself in grief. I will not let her drown. I will help her excavate the rubble. I will fight for her despite the fact she is me and wants to give up. I won't let her. But I cannot do it alone.

So I ask of you this, please do not let me slip through your fingers. Do not let me give up. Do not turn away from my vulnerable truth. Do not let this system stand. Fight with me, fight for me, fight along side me, help me fight. 


I am not the only one. We are many, the broken winged, flightless birds, stuck behind glass, perched on the rubble and ruin of our lives. We are many who fight and flail gracelessly just to get through the most torturous of days you could ever imagine in our imperfect ways. We only wish to survive this moment and the next. We do not always do things the way you would or the way you think you would. We don't always do what you think we should. We are not you, you are not us, but we are all perfectly imperfect.

Before you judge us, imagine yourself without all the things you've come to take for granted, then imagine you are trapped, you can not turn and walk from this moment or every moment to follow for decades to come, imagine you are so incredibly lonely your eyes leak rivulets of tears that drown you in sorrow, imagine your very existence is so torturous that it seems impossible to be alive and then imagine no one sees you. Imagine yourself alone, terrified, defenceless and gravely wounded. Unless you are a broken winged bird I don't know if you can imagine such desolation, so perhaps just hear me when I say when your life is obliterated and there is no end to the war on your body, and you have no army to protect you, your flock has left you behind, you were delaying them and so they left and now you will find yourself doubting there is any reason to go on.

So please take this pledge with me so that together we might will the universe into bringing about a change for all of my fellow broken winged birds who I gently cradle in my hands as I whisper love and reassurance to their hearts, chase the haunted shadows from their eyes and gently blow hope and laughter into their lungs:

Broken winged bird, I will fight for you. Broken winged bird, I am going to promise you something, one day you'll take flight, you'll soar aloft the beautiful dazzling moments of your life that are yet to come and your heart will beat in time with the collective conscious of loved ones who you will get to touch and love and hold and laugh with. Broken winged bird, even when you hate yourself, hate your life, wonder if you should bother with fighting another day, another moment,  even then know this, you are loved. Now breathe in the light and breathe out the sorrow.

I will be with you tomorrow and all the tomorrows after that. You are not alone.

NB please click on the image to be taken to the website of Theo Aartisma who created this beautiful evocative piece.

8 comments:

  1. Love you to the moon and back. My words of always saying 'perfect words for timing' don't do justice. we're all connected. a soul pod. I believe we're on a mission Marzi, some go through the depths of darkness and despair to bring light. and in no way am I throwing away your life through that expression.
    If I could embrace your cheeks with my hands and tell you that I love you, then that is what I am doing, right now xo so to speak..
    Zabi

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    1. We are on a mission. And we're going to fly together one day.... soar and swoop and ride the breeze. And really enjoy love and life and each other.

      I loves you and I whisper to you cradled in my palm, with your delicate broken wings, I love you, I love you, I love you ♥

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  2. ps; I dreamt of birds last night.. they were sad birds. today I saw some 'broken' (injured) birdies at the beach, too. x

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  3. As a sign of gratitude for how my husband was saved from stroke , i decided to reach out to those still suffering from this.
    My husband was diagnosed of stroke and it was really tough and heartbreaking for me because he was my all and the symptoms were terrible, he had difficult speaking , and he always complain of muscle weakness and balance disorder . we tried various therapies prescribed by our neurologist but none could cure him. I searched for a cure and i saw a testimony by someone who was cured and so many other with similar body problem, and he left the contact of the doctor who had the cure to stroke . I never imagine stroke has a cure not until i contacted him and he assured me my husband will be fine. I got the herbal medication he recommended and my husband used it and in one months he was fully okay even up till this moment he is so full of life. stroke has a cure and it is a herbal cure contact the doctor for more info on drwilliams098675@gmail.com on how to get the medication. Thanks for reading my testimony

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  4. Make hope a choice. Say it loudly, again and again, even if you dont want to.
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