Girlfriend Party
& Poetry
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by: Christy Sholola
copyright 2002
Each word of that letter crushed those of us who knew and loved you. We were hurt for a while, but were convinced your current season of change had temporarily altered your reality and your life�s vision; but we couldn�t and we wouldn�t let it devastate us and our hopes and dreams for you and our community.
You once told us you could always count on us to be the nest and the safe haven for you and your vision�we were a refuge and a place of healing�a shelter from life�s brutal seasonal storms. That has never changed.
Many seasons have come and gone and you continue to ignore any reminders of your past by refusing to acknowledge, contact, or remember those at home�your family, your people, your community. And all we have left of you is a cold trail of broken promises and shattered dreams�hopes and dreams we nurtured and cared for throughout the years: Hope of a better and brighter tomorrow and dreams within reach�but they are hopes, promises, and dreams that now hang heavy on our hearts.
And your empty, meaningless words sting, they hurt, and they have done nothing to save our dying community �our young, our old, our men, our women. We believed in you. We trusted you during yet another season of change.
I knew you during the Winter of your life when you were haunted by worry, frustration, and loneliness. Your eyes reflected a distance from reality, a broken spirit, and desperation. You appeared eager to recapture your season of youth-- to renew the talented, ambitious, and intellectual person that was once you. But no one was interested�no one really cared about your talent, your ambition, your intellect, or you.
So, I came to you to care for you, to nurture you. I knocked on the door of your heart hoping desperately that the memory of me�of us�and our love and trust for you would help you escape your season of selfish captivity, your selfish enslavement, and your selfish desires. I told you we were willing to forgive and forget.
For a moment, there was a slight twinkle in your eyes. For a moment you appeared to see me and remember our hopes and dreams. But the twinkle quickly vanished and you looked into my eyes with a cold, distant stare and asked, �Who are you and what do you want from me?� With tears in my eyes, I could not utter a word, so I rushed to embrace you. I held you tightly and then cupped your face gently in my hands. When our eyes met, we both cried and then you softly whispered to me, �Where there is no vision, a people, a community, and an individual all die an agonizing death.�