Past Voices: writing by Hurtwood students of yore

'Gratitude', a poem by Julia Chambers (at Hurtwood in the early 90s)

October 6th at 10.18

Crumbs thrown at a distance,

constant lacking and not

being fed adequately.

Nurture and care missing, presumed dead.

Lying, pulse racing, on a bed

that may have been snow-covered

down.

Calming, restorative and held by handover.

Responsibility curtailed,

peace but shaking.

Time out in a safety microcosm,

the conceptual white: out of chaos and into light.

Integration of a splintered mind,

slowly, softly, grasped and taken,

gently brought back from the

underbelly of the brain.

Not a foot wrong.

Not a syllable misplaced,

sledgehammer anaesthetizes

but cradling of the delicate a feat of

undertaking.

Sensitivity and cocoa

warmth and laughter

back to the land of the earth:

dropped from the sky.

Wings and security

angel in the haze of people,

beacon flashing amid lost souls

and aching brains.

Fractures healing

time and time again,

brought into the mould

And sent into a lighter world.

10.32 a.m.